Fastbreak
by DynamicIdeation
Summary: Bonnie Bennett runs Mystic Fall North High School. She lives for basketball. She's gorgeous and popular and on the honor roll. Her boyfriend Kai is the star of the men's team. She just knows she has everything figured out…until Damon Salvatore, the star point guard from their rival Mystic Falls West, transfers in and makes Bonnie question everything she thought she knew.
1. Everybody's Looking

Freshly mowed grass. Freshly spray-painted graffiti. The smell of the stoners' wake and bake session. The complaining of three thousand teenagers, and the scent of their pheromones mingling. Flashes of braces, acne, awkwardness, and desperation to find a place to belong. The hopes, dreams and aspirations of those who are not-yet-adults but not-quite-children. The trepidation and excitement of preparing to launch, to spread one's wings and leave the nest for good.

This is what greets Bonnie Bennett as she parks in her favorite space and steps out of her little red late model Mazda 3. She stands there for a moment and breathes it all in. She can smell it. Her future. She runs Mystic Falls North, and this year isn't going to be any different, especially since it's her senior year. She's truly on top. She's captain of the girl's basketball team, and it's her life. She eats, drinks, and breathes ball.

She also has a 3.73 cumulative GPA (which drives her nuts, because it isn't high enough), and she's National Honor Society president, among other things.

But best believe she keeps it cute. For the first day she's done her hair with a dramatic side part far on the left (her good side) sweeping all the way over to fall in loose waves on her right shoulder, trailing all the way down her back. She's experimented with some honey highlights, and she loves the way they catch the sunlight and soften her look. She's donned gold bejeweled pumps, soft pink distressed leggings, a gold sleeveless top-all designer, of course- with soft pink lipstick and gold shadow to emphasize the hazel flecks in her green eyes and the extra bronzing her chestnut skin received from the summer sun.

Over her forearm was thrown the turquoise Kate Spade satchel her boyfriend Malachai Parker bought her- "just because," he'd said. It was packed with her piles and piles of textbooks, because she refused to wear a backpack.

She sees a black 2016 Charger with black rims and pitch-dark tint pull in, music blasting. She strides right out in front of it, and the driver stomps on his brakes as she strikes a model pose, a wide-legged stance with one hand on her jutted-out hip, with the other hanging straight, casual, her manicured nails glancing her thigh, with her chin tipped up high. The window rolled down, and out leaned a well-muscled bicep and forearm, and the most sultry azure eyes and devilish grin this side of the Mississippi.

"There's the finest woman in the whole damn school!"

Speak of the devil. He's the six-one starting point guard for the boy's team. He's well-off, painfully good looking and well-dressed (today he's wearing a black henley that's fitted enough to show off his muscles, with fitted jeans, a fitted cap, and retro Jordans, all in shades of black and red).

He puts the Charger in park and hops out, holding up the whole line of cars pulling into the lot. Horns blare but they ignore them as Kai fits both of his huge hands around her waist and hefts her up, over his head, and then brings her in for a kiss. His boys, the rest of the MF North starting lineup, lean out the other windows and alternate jeering them and egging them on. They finish their makeout session and sit on the hood of his Charger and take model-quality selfies. They go straight to Instagram and Snapchat.

 **#FirstDayBack#MFNorth#SeniorsRunIt#ChillinWitBae**

Everyone sees. Everyone is reminded. Just in case they forgot who does, in fact, run it.

Kai parks and puts his arm around bonnie's waist, walking her to first period. "Are you ready for this year?" She asks him, a smug smile on her face. "I'm beyond ready, Sweetheart. I'm feeling like this year can't hold me." "It can't. This year needs to be ready for you. Ready for us." He kisses her again at the door and gives her a pat on the buns. "Have a good day, Babe. See you at lunch. Don't break too many hearts." He winks at her. _God, he's fine._ She blows him a kiss.

Everything's going her way this year. She's got most of her classes with Elena and Caroline, plus lunch with everybody in the crew, both hers and Kai's.

First period is AP chem- what a way to kick off the school year. But she's always been good at math, which translates well into chemistry. She sits front and center, quick to buckle down and start taking notes. It goes well. It'll be tough, but it's no match for her work ethic. Second period is creative writing, which she's not a big fan of because she doesn't like to live in a made up world. She likes thing concrete, tangible, sure. The good news is she shares it with Caroline, who sits behind her. She leans forward with some gossip.

"Why was I hearing that a Salvatore was here this morning?"

"A Salvatore? Why _were_ you hearing that? It's ludicrous."

"Get this; I heard it was Damon." Bonnie had to turn all the way around and look at her for that one. "Oh em gee, who told you that, Care? Why the fuck would Damon Salvatore be here? That makes no sense."

"I don't know," Caroline shrugs,"that's just what I heard, that there have been some sightings."

"Well, he needs to scurry back into his hole at West before the teams get a hold of him." Bonnie waved her hand, as if to say, away with that foolishness. To say the basketball rivalry is intense is an understatement.

Third period is AP Calculus, also decidedly difficult, but also just another hurdle in her race. And she was going to clear it. And once she got fives on all the tests, she was going to take PSEO courses. She wanted an entire year knocked off of her college education. That way in her fourth year as point guard at Virginia Tech she could get halfway through her master's degree in actuary science.

She and Kai were going to wait until after college to get married, until they both were started in their careers, whether they be white collar or on the court. Make no mistakes about it, Bonnie Bennett has everything planned down to the last detail. She's even thought of wedding themes and baby names. She often daydreamed about making beautiful and talented babies with Kai, and becoming Mrs. Bonnie Bennett-Parker. She's going to hyphenate.

When the bell rings for first lunch she finds him, and his arm goes comfortably around her hips again. They jump the line and get their food; a la carte, because there's no way they'd eat the poison that is known as school lunch. They're making their way to their table, flanked by all of their friends, when a completely outrageous sight stops them dead.

Who's sitting at their favorite table, in the front corner by the window, but Damon-freaking-Salvatore.

He's North's most hated rival, and she and Kai's archenemy since the eighth grade. It was mainly between him and Kai but of course, Kai's grudge had become hers. And Damon Salvatore was king of the assholes. Pompous, womanizing, and cocky, he got by on pure talent. He used his intense cobalt eyes to get his way. That paired with his smooth porcelain skin and jet hair made most girls melt. But certainly not her. She has never been fooled. Most importantly, he's senior captain of Mystic Falls West High School men's basketball team. Only how could that be, if he was sitting right here, in their lunchroom, in their seats which they've had since freshman year, which everyone knows not to sit in?

To add insult to injury, there are turncoat North girls flirting with him and his younger brother Stefan.

So this is unacceptable. It's…it's blasphemy.

The lunchroom goes silent. Fifteen hundred eyes are fixed on the crew, bloodthirsty teenagers wondering what's going to happen next, itching to see a fight.

The smirk on Damon's face is so casual and welcoming it's grotesque. Bonnie crosses her arms over her chest and curls her lip in disgust

Kai, in the meantime, looks almost entertained. "What the fuck you doing here, Salvatore?"

Damon wastes no time. "Come to take your spot, Parker."

Kai's eyebrows go up in bemusement. He starts to genuinely laugh, and looks around at the clique, who start laughing too. "Come to take _my_ spot?" He points both index fingers into his chest. " _My_ spot? You do know this is Malachai Parker you're talking to, right?"

"Oh, I'm well aware. I could smell that overpowering DudeBro cologne you like to bathe in from a mile away."

"That's some tough talk for a man who's trespassing on another man's territory."

"I think that cap of yours is too tight, Parker. It's not letting any information into your brain. I told you. I came to take over."

"Look, this has all been a lot of fun, really it has. Your delusions are always entertaining. But I'll tell you about one true thing I do know, and it's that you need to get your asses out of our seats. Like right now."

"Or what, Parker?" Damon waves an Italian dunker in his face, nonchalantly, as if he's bored with the whole situation.

Stefan stands quickly, to deescalate the situation. "Look guys, we didn't know you guys sat here. We'll just find another spot, no big deal." Stefan is the quiet type that makes you think twice before you go up against him. The good news is, he's also very sensible and not so hot-headed as Damon.

Problem is, Damon isn't backing down. He stands up too. "I don't see your names on any of these seats, Parker. As a matter of fact, maybe I see my own name." He and Kai are face-to-face, and Bonnie snickers because Kai is taller. Stefan tries again to get in between them, but Kai puts a hand to his chest and pushes him back.

"Don't touch my brother," Damon snarls, the fun now gone from his voice, a dangerous edge taking its place. Kai smiles in a predatory way, his pointed teeth glinting. He's always liked to fight a little too much, which has always bothered Bonnie.

A hall monitor steps in just in time. "That's quite enough, gentleman. You'll have to take this pissing contest up at another time. Mr. Salvatore, find another seat. We won't have you instigating fights here because of some alpha male complex."

As he picks up his tray he says,"Lookin' good, Bennett. Maybe I'll be coming for that too." he winks at her. Kai lunges at him, his boys holding him back.

"Don't bring your thirst over here just because all the girls at West are bustdowns," Bonnie snaps at him. Everybody behind breaks out in a chorus of _Oooooohhhh's._

"Ooh, kitty has claws." His sneer gets under her skin.

"You just watch your ass, Salvatore," Kai warns.

"Original, Malachai. Very original," Damon tosses back over his shoulder.

He and Stefan get invited to sit with a group of in-between-guys…you know, people who aren't outcasts, but they aren't the top dogs either; probably looking to climb the social ladder. Lots of eyes go with them… Bonnie doesn't like it. She hated to admit it, but both Salvatore brothers were physically hot, and had swag for days. They could use personality transplants, though.

"Really, Damon?" Stefan says in exasperation. "You knew that's where Kai Parker and company sit. You just wanted to make waves." Damon just shrugs. "Am I going to have to be the voice of reason at North, too?"

"Don't trouble yourself, Dear Brother. I know what I'm doing here. North High is about to get shaken up, Salvatore style." He winks at Stefan, who rolls his eyes up to the ceiling and shakes his head.

Everyone sits in their normal seats, with Kai sitting on top of the table, as he does half the time , and they all et back to laughing and joking, pretending that nothing ever happened.

Bonnie laughs along, but can't help but think that things are about change in a major way.


	2. Under Her Skin

Bonnie thought everything was going her way, but the whole Salvatore thing quickly became a thorn in her side. Especially since Kai has been texting her non-stop, venting about what happened over lunch, and raging about what he's going to do to Damon if he insists on trying to come for him.

 _What the fuck makes him think he can come up against me? We spanked West in the last three games against them. Especially the last one._

 _You sure did, Babe._

 _You remember my stats, Hun?_

 _Course I do. 27 points, 9 assists, 7 rebounds. To his 19 points, 6 assists, 6 rebounds. You were leading scorer, and your alley oop made the nine o'clock news. Salvatore can't touch you._

Of course, Damon Salvatore didn't have the "supporting cast" Kai did. MF West wasn't as good, so Damon basically had to carry the whole team, while Kai was free to shine. But she wasn't going to tell him that.

 _See, that's why I love you,_ He said.

 _I love you more._

 _Wanna shoot around some after school?_

 _Yes, I would love to. *kisses*_

 _Okay, see you then, Beautiful._

In her fifth period, Econ, Bonnie continues to claim her customary spot, front and center.

Who in the sam hell should happen to walk a couple minutes later?

"Hey Princess." Damon lifts his chin in a "what's up" gesture.

Bonnie says nothing and looks straight ahead with a bored expression. She doesn't acknowledge his kind.

But in her mind she's thinking, _Oh hell no._ She was not going to go a whole semester sharing a classroom with that clown. Luckily he goes straight to the back and sits in a far corner, with the rest of the clowns who aren't going anywhere in life.

 _Ugh, guess who I have in my fifth period!_ She sends a group text out.

 _Lemme guess, a Salvatore?_ Elena says, sending an emoji that's gritting it's teeth.

 _Gross,_ Caroline adds. Side eye emoji.

 _He better stay away from you,_ Kai says; red-faced pissy emoji.

 _Don't worry Babe, he's not stupid. He won't try anything._

 _Well, I don't trust him, especially not around you. Keep an eye on him._

 _Okay fine, I will, but only because it will make you feel better._ Smiley face with halo emoji.

 _Thank you_ , _it will._ he says. kissy face smiley.

 _Lmao you guys are so cute_ , Caroline adds. It _was_ really cute when he got all jealous and protective.

 _#Relationship goals,_ wrote Elena.

 _I know right?! We're like, totes the cutest ever!_ Kai jokes, sending a wink face with its tongue out.

After the emoji-fest she turns her attentions back to the board. There's no way she would let Damon affect her studies, that was for damn sure.

Her sixth and seventh periods are Salvatore-less, and Caroline and Elena-full, and she feels much better when she gets to gossip with them.

When the bell rings at the end of the day she's running to get changed so she can meet Kai on the court at the park across the street from school. She ties her hair back in a long braid and headband. She feels like she's slipping into a second skin when she slides off the painful heels and dons the sneakers, basketball shorts, and Skylar Diggins jersey.

Kai's got basketball shorts on too, and a muscle tank. And boy, does he have the muscles to fill it. He's so gotdamn gorgeous he still makes her sweat after all the years she's know him.

He steps on the court.

"Check ball." he passes it to her. She passes it back and gets into her defensive stance.

Of course, Kai is much bigger and stronger than her, but she often surprises him with her speed. Today she does just that. He takes his eyes off of her, getting ready to drive to the hoop, and she pokes the ball right out of his hands and takes it on a fast break.

"Aw, come on, Candy," he laughs, and just stands there looking silly as she drops her lay-up in with ease.

"Your ball," she says, smugly, pushing it at the ground so it bounced to him.

"Check." Kai pulls up and shoots a long jumper straight over her head. The ball goes in with a swish.

"Your ball," he grins at her.

"Okay, we're all well aware of the fact that I'm short."

He crosses his eyes at her. She makes a fish face at him.

She has possession of the ball this time, and she dribbles left toward the corner, her back to him. His fingertips brush the small of her back when he's not near her, so he can easily track her movements. When he presses his defense their bodies bounce into and off of each other, back to chest, thigh to thigh, booty to groin.

"You know I love d'ing you up."

"Amy smart man would."

"But you don't belong to any smart man." He snuck in a pinch to her butt.

"No, I belong to one dense one." She chucked his chin with her right hand as she dribbled with the left hand.

"Hardee-har-har."

She head fakes him and goes around him for another lay-up.

"You're still falling for that head fake."

"Yeah well, you're still thinking I'm not just letting you score on me."

Kai's next shot rims out.

"You're still bring the ball too far back when you shoot. You're doing the slingshot, Sweetie."

At this point, they know each other's games inside and out. they know what the other is going to do before they even think to do it.

They grew up together, a few houses down from each other, meeting each other on the court since before Bonnie was wearing a training bra. They were each other's boy and girl next door.

He'd been her best friend for a long time, and it had seemed gross when they developed crushes on each other, but then it came to feel natural to fall in together.

Things had changed so much since then. _They_ had changed so much since then.

Bonnie needs work on her stop and pop, and Kai has been helping for the past few weeks.

"It's almost like you have to step into it, Babe. If you're concentrating on stopping you can't be accurate. But if you've got your pace down, and you know that as soon as you take that last step with the right you're gonna hop your feet together and push off for that jumper, you're good to go. Remember to lean toward the basket."

"What like this?" She leans forward slowly, as if she's falling, and plants a soft kiss on his lips.

"Something like that," he mumbles, his mouth against hers, eyes soft.

Bonnie beats him by one point, and they run drills until it's too dark to see.

They sit on the bleachers and watch the sun go down, Bonnie wrapped in Kai's arms, his chin on the top of her head.

"Babe?" Bonnie whispered.

"Hmm?"

"We've got everything figured out right? I mean, our plan is airtight?"

"Without a doubt it is. You know why?"

"Why?"

"Because Bonnie Sheilah Bennett put the plan together. You're completely unstoppable when you put your mind to something."

She felt so much better. She loved having him there to reassure her. "Thanks, Mal."

He kissed her hair and held her tighter.

The next school day goes awry just as badly as the first one had. The beginning of the day held no problems. But that fifth period…

"Alright, everyone, we're kicking this semester off with a short project-" the entire class groans,"-that's only about a week long." They all groan again. "You get to have a partner-"

"Aaayyy!" the students start to make eye contact with their bestie so they know who they're gonna work with."-and I've already picked out the pairs."

"Oh come on, Teach!" everybody starting moaning and groaning louder than before.

"If you think I care about your complaints, think again." she said in a sing-song voice, with a syrupy smile.

She started naming off names. There were only a select few Bonnie would be happy to work with, and the obvious person she would detest working with. But hey, what were the chances?

"Damon Salvatore and Bonnie Bennett." One hundred percent. The chances are one hundred frickin' percent.

Bonnie literally drops the notebook in her hand. There's just no way. No way on God's green earth she can work with that…that peasant.

She goes to the teacher, Mrs. Walsh, beseeching her not to make her work with him. She'd gladly take Stuttering Stanley (whose name was something else entirely but she never cared to learn it), or hey, what about the nerd genius freshman girl with zero social skills and zero friends? She'd even take the fat kid with the B.O. Anybody but _him._

"Miss Bennett. We all have people in the world that we may not be fond of, but finding a way to work with them is part of being an adult. You'll just have to make due."

She drops back into her seat, pissed. Damon drops into the one behind her.

"I get to antagonize you endlessly for seven whole days?" He claps and rubs his palms together, fast, like he's trying to start a fire. Actually, that's exactly what he's trying to do. He'll get no better opportunity than working this closely with her. "This is gonna be good." Bonnie is seeing red.

"I need an A on this project, you imbecile," she growls. "Don't mess this up for me. Understand?" Honestly, she's trying her best to be civil.

"Well, I mean, when you ask so sweetly…"

There's no way this can end well.

The next couple of days Kai walks her to class and gives Damon warning looks. Damon just waggles his eyebrows and smiles.

They make it to day three without killing each other. But that's about as far as they'll get.

"See Bennett, what you fail to realize is that I'm getting under your skin on purpose, and you're just letting me do it. You and your little boyfriend. It's too easy."

"You really don't have anything better to do?"

"Better? There _is_ nothing better. I live for this type of turmoil and dysfunction." he flips nonchalantly through their textbook.

"You need to beliving for an actual life of your own, outside of your jealousy of us."

"And _you_ need to be living for getting your nose out of the air and that stick out of your ass."

Bonnie flips the top half of the book over, slamming it closed on his hand.

"Ooooww! Are you crazy?!"

"Bonnie and Damon. Please control the volume over there," Their teacher warns.

"How about silence?" Bonnie hisses. "I like silence."

The bell rings, and Bonnie's never been so glad to have her freedom. She jumps up and gathers her things, and takes off like a shot.

In a teasing voice he says,"At some point we're going to have to talk to get the project done, Bennett."

She spills out into the hall, getting swept up in the flood of so many other students.

"Bennett." she hears him call, but she's walking away from him fast, books in her arms.

The next day Bonnie has just jumped the lunch line when she hears a voice call her name; one that automatically works her nerves. _The project,_ he's griping, _you were the one bitching about an A._

"Don't approach me at lunch time. I don't want to be seen with you."

"You know, you really need to stop taking yourself so seriously."

"Why, so I can have no purpose and no meaning like you?"

That really seemed to bother him; he gave her a _wtf?_ look. Good.

She turns on her spiked heel and starts to walk away. From behind her she hears;

"You're a real witch, Bennett."

She spins around to glare at him, her hand set on her hip. " _What_ did you call me?" Every student close enough to hear them goes quiet, eagerly listening in.

He gets in her face, as close as he can with his food tray in hand, and narrows his eyes at her as he repeats himself.

"You heard me. Where's you broomstick and pointed hat?" He points a finger at her. "You think all that Maybelline is hiding your warts, but I see straight through it. You're an evil little witch."

"I got your witch." Bonnie brings the flat of her hand up and upends the tray of food right on him. There's a mixture of gasps and _oooooohhhs_ from the spectators.

Damon stands there in shock, as a mixture of marinara and apple sauce and grape juice seeps into his clothing. But it doesn't take long for him to recover. He snatches someone's carton of milk and splashes it in her face.

Bonnie screams in rage. Her makeup must be running all over the place. He's really trying to humiliate her! She grabs at the milk, getting a hold to Damon's wrist. She snatches a handful of an onlooker's green beans and flings them in his face, and shoves him all in one motion. He looses his footing in the combination of milk and marinara, and the next thing he knows he's falling backward. Thinking fast, he grabs Bonnie's elbow and pulls her down with him. She lands smack on top of him with am "oompf" and now they're both slipping and sliding in the muck.

Some of their ammo has been hitting innocent bystanders, and everyone gets worked up really fast. The excitement and tension boils over. A pimply-faced boy literally stands up and yells, "Food fiiiiiiiiight!" Bonnie remembered thinking, for a quick second in the back of her head, that it sounded just like one of those teen movies. Then all hell broke loose. Over her head she can see a mess of food flying everywhere.

"Oh my God, get _off_ of me!" Bonnie cries, trying to push off of Damon and scramble away.

"You're on _me_ , you perv." Damon retorts. It seems like he isn't trying that hard to get up, but instead enjoying pulling her back down. She could have sworn she heard him laugh. Does he think this is funny?

The lunchroom is a riot, with screaming and laughing and blurs of flying colors, and falling, and stickiness, and the odor of spoiled public school food.

Bonnie feels the strong beefy hand of a hall monitor haul her up off the floor and start to drag her out of the melee, even as she's cursing the entire Salvatore bloodline.


	3. Who Now?

"Suspended?! You can NOT suspend me!"

The principal, Mrs. Greene, held her hands up in resignation. "Miss Bennett, you basically assaulted another student. I know you're a bit hot-headed, but you have to know that you went much too far. There are consequences to your actions."

"Yeah, Bennett." Damon has a smug smile on his face. Bonnie half expects him to stick his tongue out at her like a kindergartner.

"And you, Mr. Salvatore. How many days have you been here, exactly?"

"Five, I do believe. But it feels like five years. Like a prison sentence."

"I don't really care how much you may dislike us here at North, that does not give you the right to go around harassing every young woman you have a crush on."

"Crush?!" Bonnie and Damon both exclaim at the same time.

"No, no, no," Damon says, sweeping his hand in a _guys, don't worry about it_ gesture,"I do _not_ have a crush on her."

Bonnie scowled. "And that's the only thing we can agree on."

"Whatever you say," Mrs. Greene didn't sound convinced."You'll both have plenty of time to think about it. And I want you to do just that, long and hard, before you set foot back in my school because I won't tolerate this sort of behavior from either one of you. Am I understood?"

They both lower their heads like small scolded children. "Yes ma'am," they say in unison.

Bonnie sits there pouting, in the freezing cold office, damp and covered in filth. Her designer blouse is ruined, another gift from Kai. Her hair is caked with greasy cafeteria food. She needs to shower, to exfoliate, She needs her facial cleanser and a fresh layer of makeup. And she'd gotten it so perfect today. Shit.

Luckily Elena's coming down with a change of clothes (Bonnie always keeps a spare outfit in her locker. She's no savage) and some wet wipes. She will at least be able to clean her face.

Elena sits outside the office with her, waiting for her dad to pick her up.

"Why is he such an asshole, Elena?! He's literally trying to ruin my life! I mean, just look at my Guccis! This shit isn't cheap!"

"Why is he here in the first place? That's what I need to know! It's almost like he left West specifically to make trouble. I mean, I get that West's a shit heap, but wasn't he king of the shit heap over there?

"Why be king of the shit heap when you can be a jester in a better court?" Bonnie sneers.

"Ha, I know, right?!"

"He doesn't want me to call Mal down here to lay hands on his ass."

"He doesn't want _me_ to lay hands on his ass," Elena threatens, which makes the both of them crack up.

"How can things be going so wrong so soon in the year? I've never been suspended a day in my life! I've barely even had a detention! I'm freaking president of the National Honor Society, for god's sake!"

"It'll be alright," Elena soothed, "I think this is one of those 'coming-of-age adulthood struggles' we have to make it through before we officially become women." She wraps her arm gently around Bonnie's neck and pulls her close, pressing Bonnie's head to her shoulder.

Bonnie takes a deep breath and relaxes, comforted by her best friend. "Thanks, 'Lena."

"Of course, Bon." They sit in contemplative silence for a moment as they wait.

"…My dad's gonna be majorly pissed."

Bonnie's dad Rudy doesn't yell or scream, even though he had to leave work early to come get her. Bonnie was prepared to be defensive, but instead he makes her feel guilty.

"This is very unlike you," he begins, calmly. "what's going on?"

"There's this guy at school-"

"And what, you like him?"

Bonnie's horrified. "No of course not, Dad! I love Mal!"

"Then how are you letting him get you so worked up?"

"He's a rival, sort of like an archenemy."

"Bonnie, do you know how immature that sounds?" Bonnie huffed but didn't answer. He was a dad. He just didn't get it. "You know how they are at my job about this sort of thing."

She looked at her feet. "Yeah, I know." Those assholes at his job worked him into the ground. Like they owned him. "I'm sorry."

"In life we have to deal with people we can't stand on a daily basis. That's just a part of being an adult. You're going to have to figure out how to get along with this young man, or else your lack of self-control is going to cost you, over and over again."

 _How many times do I have to get the same lecture in one day?_ She crossed her arms over her chest and scowled.

"You have to leave your car at home for two weeks."

"But Dad! I was planning to-"

"It doesn't matter," he cut her off. "and if you insist on arguing with me, we can make it three. I think I'm being pretty darn lenient, considering that you're going around putting your hands on people and starting food fights."

"This is bullshit," she mumbled under her breath.

"What?"

"Nothing." She stared out of the window and sighed.

Bonnie spends her "days off" on overdrive. Since she has the time, and is completely incapable of sitting still, she packs in study sessions, makes plans for Honor Society service projects, and sneaks in a mani pedi and facial peel. She's on the court two or three times a day.

This time Kai is with her, and to say that he's not happy is an understatement.

He's been watching her dribble, with a ball in each hand, up and down the entire length of the court.

"Do you want me to kick his ass?" Kai asks, and she can see how serious he is about it. He doesn't just want to fight Damon, he wants to put Damon in the hospital. It's mainly about her, but also partly about his pride. She's seen what he can do, and it's the last thing she wants.

"And risk your scholarship?" She pants as she dribbles back towards him, "Of course not."

"I wish I would have been there. He would have been sorry he ever heard the name Bonnie Bennett."

"It's good thing you weren't there. Things would have gotten totally out of control if you would have knocked him out, Baby. Just leave it alone. He doesn't want a piece of you, trust me on that." She turned on a dime, never stopping her dribble, and started back down to the other end of the court. Kai stepped in front of her, grabbed her wrists, making the balls go bouncing away. He pulled her into his chest, squeezing her tight. "Candy, are you sure? Completely sure? 'Cause I can't have anybody laying their hands on my lady. I know how much this has been bothering you."

 _Trust him to know,_ she thought, and snuggled against him. She couldn't let him see her rattled.

"I can handle myself. Besides," she had to admit, as she held back tears," it was more me losing my cool than anything. I'm just gonna take my punishment like a big girl. Let's call it a learning experience."

"Yeah well just make sure he knows that I'm not having it." He pressed his crotch up against her playfully, "I got something you can take like a big girl."

Bonnie giggled and pushed him off. "You're so gross." he kissed the top of her head. They played horse until the streetlights came on.

When Bonnie gets back to school things aren't much better. She and Damon can't be near each other without nearly going to blows. They spew hate at every turn. Mrs. Walsh can't take the two of them together and decides they'll do the project separately. They get two detentions in three days. Bonnie's starting to freak out, because the detentions could add up to another suspension, and she couldn't afford that. But she wasn't about to humble herself, oh no. She wasn't going out like that.

She's also having a harder and harder time holding Kai back. It blew her mind how his temper got the better of his judgment. He had too much too lose to go around fighting like that. They both did.

While the teachers are glad to enforce all of the punishments, the coaches don't like it at all. They go straight to the principal. Because she's always been a star student and especially since she's a star ball player, Bonnie knows they'll let her off easier.

"Well Miss Bennett, it looks like you have a guardian angel here at North. I've decided to try something different in way of reprimand, since we would like for you to still be able to participate in the basketball program in the fall." Bonnie tries to hide her smug smile. "Since you're such a great student, we're going to make you a tutor for as long as we feel is necessary, possibly until the end of the semester. We haven't worked out all of the details yet. The way we see it, you can count the hours toward community service and put them on your resume. It's a win-win."

 _Hmm, a tutor? that isn't so bad._ She would have to rearrange some of her study sessions and probably cut back on a couple of hours of court time every week, but it wouldn't kill her. And she was always looking for ways to polish her resume.

"Thank you, Mrs. Greene, I think that's beyond fair." She works hard to keep her face solemn, but in reality she's thinking, _being a star student is paying some dividends here._

"And you're going to start today."

That surprised her a bit. "Oh. Okay." Damnit. She was planning to ride with Care to the mall. She was running low on foundation and needed to get to Sephora like _yesterday._ But oh, well, she would suck it up.

"Here's the main caveat. You're going to tutor Damon Salvatore."

Bonnie nearly fell out of her chair. "I'm going to tutor who now?" Mrs. Greene simply raised an eyebrow at her. "The suspension. I'll take the suspension." Mrs. Greene crossed her arms and shook her head slowly. "Seriously, Mrs. Greene. Gimme the suspension."

"It's already been decided, Miss Bennett."

"And what if I refuse?"

She actually stared the woman down, her rage getting the better of her. "You don't want to test me," Mrs. Greene warned, "You'll take the tutoring position, Miss Bennett, and that's final."

Bonnie fights a full-on meltdown.

"Mr. Salvatore's grades were lacking coming from West-"

"Surprise, surprise."

"-and we can't have that at North. Part of your punishment is learning how to get along as adults. You had better figure it out. Now get out of my office."

Bonnie heads for the library as slow as humanly possible. To make herself feel better she pulls up Facebook and looks over some of her best profile pictures. One of her favorites was of her and Kai from the past winter. They both were in heavy coats, her with a fuzzy red scarf, him with a VA Tech basketball cap. She'd been looking right at the camera when the picture was taken. It was obvious that he'd said something to make her laugh, because her smile was soft and easy, natural, not posed. He must have been in the middle of a sentence, because his mouth was open in a big grin and his eyes were closed. When Bonnie looked at it, it made her eyes soften and her heart melt.

She clicked on the link where it said "in a relationship with Kai Parker" and started looking through his pictures, admiring them.

There were plenty of him on the court, lots with him and his tons of brothers and sisters, lots of him and his car. Lots of them together. The time she went on a fishing trip with him and his dad and he had to take the bass off the hook for her. The field trip to the Mystic Falls Zoo. Of course, the two of them on the court, playing one of their trillions of games of one-on-one. "Nobody can see Candy on the court," the caption read," except me!"

She noticed a name kept coming up, listed under the likes. Katie Pierce liked his photo in the MF North uniform from last year. Katie Pierce liked the one were he was sitting on the hood of his car with his arms crossed. Katie Pierce liked the one where he was sticking his tongue out, making a silly face. and she was leaving comments. "You look so hot there" and "OMG your ride is the coolest." Katie Pierce. Katie Pierce. Katie Pierce. And all the pics seemed to have one thing in common; Bonnie wasn't in them.

What the fuck? And why hadn't Mal erased this shit?

She didn't have the time to address it right now. She had to go submit to being tortured. But without a doubt, she was going to get to the bottom of this shit.

They sat in silence for the first few minutes, in the stillness of the study room that had been reserved for them. For the _rest of the semester._

"Sooooooo…where do we start?"

"You're the smart one here, Bennett, you tell me." That infuriating smirk was on his face. He thought this was funny too.

"I'll tell you this much." She narrowed her eyes at him and curled her lip. "You disgust me."

"You don't have to love me, Bennett, but you do have to help me get my grades up. You get to do all the heavy lifting, not me. Have fun with that." He leans back, tilting his chair up on the back two legs, crossing his ankles on the table and interlacing his fingers behind his head. _He is taking this entirely too well. But then again, he gets his life force from draining mine._

She has a look at the first assignment, which involved a composition paper.

"Okay, so they want you to answer the five questions related to the book Frankenstein and put them in essay format."

"Apparently so." He cleaned his fingernails.

"First question. What do you feel was the most important take-away from the book?"

He looked around over his head, pretending to be thinking. "No idea."

"Did you even read the book?!"

"Nope." The nail cleaning continued.

Bonnie goes to grab a copy. She comes up behind him and kicks one of the legs of his chair, causing him to lose balance. He caught himself, and glared at her in his embarrassment. She threw the book down in his lap.

"I'm not learning anything, Bennett. What the hell is a 'take-away'? Did someone tell you you were good at this? They lied."

Bonnie tried to explain the concept of a "take-away".

"I don't get it." She changed tactics and tried again.

"I don't get it." he shrugged, grinning. _Christ, he's doing this on purpose._

If they weren't in the library, she would have started screaming. Instead she grits her teeth and shakes her fists like an infuriated toddler, growling all the while.

"Why did you come to North in the first place?" Bonnie demands, her voice getting louder. "I don't get it. Why are you here, Salvatore?"

"You don't have to get it, because it's none of your business."

"If you're _this dumb_ ," she tapped her pointer finger at the book, hard, " then you're already beyond my help and anyone else's."

"Maybe I am. And it's gonna make for a loooooong semester for you." He grins at her, his feline eyes mocking her.

Bonnie stands, shoving her chair out behind her so fast it nearly falls over. "I can't do this." She throws her things into her purse and stalks out.

"You don't have a choice." His voice, still laughing. His voice, chasing her more and more frequently these days.


	4. Adjusting Her Crown

_Gotdamn Damon Salvatore,_ she thinks as she rushes away. _There must be a way I can get rid of him. Or beat him at his own game. I wonder if I can get HIM to quit? Because I can't keep running away._

 _S_ he drives home at a breakneck pace. All she wants to do is lie down for just a minute and think, reevaluate.

Her phone buzzes. It's a text from Kai. She remembers the whole situation with Katie.

She and Katie had always hated each other. Mainly because Kate Pierce was a crafty little sadist. She was always plotting and scheming, always wanting to take what wasn't hers just for the thrill of it. What the fuck is up with Katherine Pierce? _She can't possibly think she can take Kai._ Bonnie wouldn't stand for that. To be honest, neither would Kai. He's always been suspicious of her.

Which was why she was confused about what was going on. Kai would clear up her confusion, though. It was no big deal.

She calls him while she's still on the road.

"Hey what's up, Babe, you get my text?"

"Yeah, but I need to ask you about something. Kai, have you seen how many of your pictures Katie Pierce has been commenting on?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, she's all up on your Facebook page. Why? She acts like we're not in a relationship."

"Babe, Katie Pierce knows exactly what the deal is. I'm with you, all the way." She needed to hear that. It makes her smile.

"I knew you'd say that. So can you take it all down?"

"Take it down? Why?

"Why?" She actually pulled the phone back from her face to look at it. "You know I can't stand Katie Pierce and and that bitch can't stand me. She's always tried to flirt with you, just to piss me off. I don't want her publicly flirting with you."

"And what, so you don't trust me?" There was an edge to his voice.

"Wait, are you getting defensive right now?"

"You make it sound like I'm encouraging her."

She sighed. "Chill out. This isn't about you, it's about her. Another woman is trying to step onto my territory and I don't like it. It makes me want to eat her alive. I think you can understand that, especially as a man."

"I love it when you get all 'lioness' on me, Candy."

She turns on her syrupy sweet voice. "Well I you're just so handsome and tall and talented and strong and so many other things. And I want all of you for myself because you're mine."

"All right, all right. I'll take the stuff down."

"Thank you. I love you."

"I love you more."

Okay, another crisis averted. It was now time to turn to another major upcoming event; homecoming. It would be time for her campaign before she knew it.

A few relatively normal days had passed when Bonnie noticed Kai changed his profile picture. She gushed over how handsome he was, then the thought came to her to check if Katie had said anything else.

Bonnie had known Kate Pierce since the second grade, and she'd been a hater even then, trying to take Bonnie's toys or put mud in her hair. It could only be because Bonnie was the new girl, and everyone had been so fascinated with her, and they'd loved her braids and beads. She met Caroline and Elena (who happened to be Kate's cousin) and became best friends with them.

Since then Katie was always trying to one up her, always targeting her with her stank side comments and bullshit rumors, always trying to make other people dislike her. It couldn't be helped that Bonnie had taken her shine. She just chalked it up to jealousy, and mostly ignored her, except for the times she'd had to put her in her place over the years.

Kate had always been jealous of her friendship with Kai, and took it to a new level when they started dating. She's always tried to flirt with him before and Kai always just brushed her off, ignored her. Acted like she wasn't there. Now wasn't any different.

Except, maybe it was. Because everything Bonnie had wanted gone was still there.

What. The. Fuck.

She was heading to open gym, where the original plan was to meet up with him and shoot around; after all, basketball tryouts would be coming soon, too.

She skips going to change and marches right out onto the court where Kai is, high heels clicking and clacking on the hardwood. It felt weird to be on it in these shoes, but she didn't care. Players on the court had to dodge and sidestep her, and stop in their tracks, as she cut right through their warm-up lines and stepped right in front of their dribbles without so much as a sideways glance.

"Malachai." She halts in front of him just as he's preparing to shoot a free throw, crossing her arms over her chest, hip thrown out dramatically.

"What's the matter, Bon? What are you doing?" All of his teammates have to stop playing because she's interrupting their scrimmage. They stand there being nosy.

"I need to talk to you for a second. Please."

"Can't it wait?" He gestured toward his friends behind him.

"No, it cannot wait," she looked past him and gave his boys a look that said, _y'all know what the deal is_. "Know why? Because I asked you to do something and _I'm_ still waiting."

He realizes what she's talking about and sighs, gesturing her towards the door. She follows him into the hall.

"Why're you making such a big deal out of this, Candy?"

"It is a big deal. I'm your girlfriend, and another woman, who hates me, is disrespecting me by flirting with you on a public profile and I'm asking you to take it down out of love for me. I really shouldn't have to ask."

"You're trippin'. You shouldn't be worried about some stupid girl commenting on my Facebook pictures."

"I can't believe I'm having this argument with you." She was seeing red now, and she was going to get her point across if it killed her. Before she knew what she was saying, it was out. " You know what, that's fine. Leave them there. And so if Damon Salvatore suddenly decides to comment on all my pics and tell me how fine I look with my high heels on, you better not trip."

He's stunned to silence. She can see the rage start to build up in his face. Shit. She's done it now.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean, Bonnie?" He walked up to her and towered over her, in her face. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like. So is there a double standard?"

They're starting to get loud. People are turning to stare at them.

Kai grabs her arm and pulls her into an empty classroom. And he's not gentle about it.

"Get your fucking hands off me, Kai! Have you lost your mind?" She pushes him off.

"You like Damon Salvatore?" He asks, his eyes dark.

"No, Kai!"

"Do you fucking like him?!"

"Hell no, I don't like Damon fucking Salvatore!" She screamed, probably too loud.

"But you want him to tell you you're fine?"

"You dummy, I want him far the hell away from me! You're missing the point! You're over here acting a fool because of what I said and that would never even fucking happen! He's your rival and you hate him, and guess what? As your loyal faithful girlfriend, I hate him too! I got fuckin' _suspended_ showing how much I hate him! Now if he started flirting with me and telling me he thought I was sexy, you'd lose your fuckin' mind, just like you are now! But YOU'RE doing that same shit to me with Katherine Pierce!"

She balls up her fist and punches him in the chest, as hard as she can. He flinches. "And don't you EVER fucking grab me like that, Malachai Parker! Did you forget who I am?" She punches him again, in the same spot, and watches his face flush with anger. Bonnie sets her jaw and glares up at him, ready to swing again. He turns and storms out, slamming the door behind him.

Bonnie's face falls as she remembers she needs to breathe. She realizes she's shaking. They've argued before, but not like that, never like that. She isn't sure what to do…

But she knows she isn't going to apologize.

She calls Elena and Caroline, and they come for a sleepover while she whines.

"Why was he being such an ass? I mean, he's alway an ass. But why be an extra ass?"

"You brought up Damon, Bon. You couldn't have picked a better way to piss him off," Elena pointed out. He IS a man, after all, and a competitive man,".

"But I wasn't wrong! The bottom line is, he shouldn't let that guttersnipe get away with publicly disrespecting our relationship!"

"You're right, Hun. He's in the wrong here, not you. You were just trying to get your point across," Caroline rubs her arm sympathetically.

"He even got defensive, though! Acted like he didn't want to take it all down, like he shouldn't have to! Uuuuuuggghhh!" She shook her fists and threw herself down on her bed. "What do I do you guys? We've never fought like this before, ever! He's such a bastard but he's my baby!"

"Maybe you should try talking to him. It's no good if you both are stomping around pissed off," Elena suggested with a shrug.

Caroline jumped in. "No Elena, absolutely not. Kai is in the wrong here, and he took the argument way too far. He should be over here groveling, and if he isn't willing to do that, then you shouldn't say anything."

"But they can't keep this stalemate up for too long, Care. They need to get it worked out."

"That's true," She turns to Bonnie, "But you should take a day or two. Let him feel the pain. Then make a decision."

"I like the sound of that," Bonnie agrees, small smile on her face.

She's up early the next morning, adding extra volume to her already fabulous hair, putting on especially dramatic makeup, and the outfit she knows he loves. She's outdone herself today.

She sees him in the parking lot and says nothing. He's trying to hide it, but she can tell by the look on his face that he's thinking of how good she looks. She just flounces away.

She sees him in the hall and says nothing. His mouth drops open, just a little bit. He isn't used to getting the cold shoulder.

At lunch they sit as far away from each other as possible, and aren't talking. They never do that. As a matter of fact, she, Caroline, Elena, and there rest of the girls basically have their backs turned to the guys. Everybody notices.

"What's up with you and Kai? It's soooooo weird not to see you glued together." Liv asks.

"Your idiot brother…" Bonnie explains the situation.

"Oh my God. I should kick his ass."

Both Bonnie and Liv know she wouldn't dream of it, and Bonnie is sympathetic. Kai's siblings were terrified of him when he was angry.

"I'm sure we'll get it figured out."

"Are you sure you want to?" Liv gives her a disdainful look. "You deserve better. Kai's such a dick."

Bonnie sighs. "I know, but he's still mine." She pulls Liv in for a tight hug. "Besides, then we wouldn't be sisters, and what kind of world would that be to live in?"

Liv hugged back. "We'll always be sisters, no matter what."

Bonnie keeps up the silent treatment for two more days, just in case he wasn't feeling it enough already. She can see other students whispering in each other's ears as she passes. She doesn't let it faze her. The most popular couple in the school is allowed to have problems, just like everyone else. Right?

After school she runs drills, and thinks about all the ways her perfectly organized life is going off the rails. She sprints from the baseline to the free throw line and back. To the half court line, and back. To the other baseline, all the way back.

Tutoring Damon Salvatore.

Baseline, free throw line. baseline, half court. Baseline, other end of the court.

Kate Pierce liking Mal's photos.

Baseline, free throw line. Baseline, half court line. Baseline, other baseline.

Suspension, detentions. Running for homecoming to stay on track. So many plans for the future…

She was so out of breath she nearly dropped. Was she losing her grip?

She looks up, and sees Kai coming. She gathers her things and is out of there before he can even get close.

"Bon, can we- Bon, wait!" He still had not apologized so no, there would be no talking.

 _All her comments are gone,_ he texts, a couple of hours later. _I even reposted a bunch of pics, so they wouldn't have her likes on them._

Bonnie rushed to check. It was true. All traces of Katie Pierce were gone. She took a deep breath and let it out, along with her anxiety about her rival and her boyfriend. She was not, however, going to rush to answer him. She needed to prove her point.

It didn't also seem to be a coincidence that tomorrow was Wednesday, the day she tutors Damon.

An hour later; _I'm sorry. You were right. You're always right_. Bonnie can't help but soften. He's her baby. _I miss you,_ he continues. _Can I make it up to you?_ " He sends a picture of himself with his lip poked out, looking like a lost puppy.

Being away from him is killing her, but Bonnie still makes him wait three hours for a response.

 _I suppose._ Blushing smiley. _I'm sorry, too._

That evening he shows up at her door with a beautifully wrapped box. Bonnie squeals, and tears into it. It's a pair of peep toe Louboutin platforms, with a matching clutch. They're nice, _really_ nice, but…more shoes? She was hoping he'd be more original.

"What's the matter, don't you like it?"

"Of course, of course I love it, Sweetheart!" She reaches for his face and kisses the corner of his mouth. "I just want to spend more time with you, too. There's this new Thai place. It looks simple, but the food is supposed to be excellent. Will you take me? Then I can wear my new shoes and then you'll officially be forgiven."

"If that's want my girl wants, that's what she gets." She hugs him, feeling his body and breathing in his scent, vowing never to let an argument like this happen again.

The next day Bonnie and Kai show everyone that they're a united front. He's walking her to every class again, always with his arm around her. Their outfits are in matching colors, and Bonnie's flaunting her shoes and clutch. At lunch she sits in his lap and laughs extra hard at his jokes. It's partly a show for all of the subjects in their kingdom but, she also missed him like crazy.

"I hear there's trouble in paradise."

"Please don't start today, Salvatore. Seriously." She held her hand up at him, as if to say "stop".

"Oh trust, me I wasn't going to say a whole heck of a lot. I was just going to stand back and be silently amused. But then I heard that my name was brought up."

Bonnie's eyes went wide. People heard that?! Who could possibly have heard that?! If he knew, it was a guarantee the whole school would know. What she didn't realize was that Damon was on the court when they started arguing and snuck over by the door to be nosy. He was the only one who heard. "If you wanted me to tell you how hot you are, all you had to do was ask." He winked.

Bonnie couldn't think of a single comeback.

"Cat got your tongue?" She grew hot from embarrassment. "Are you blushing, Bennett? Oh this is TOO good." He whips out his phone and tries to take a picture of her.

"Stop it, Salvatore!" She covers her face with her hands.

"I'm gonna hold this one over your head forever. You just have no idea how much ammo you've given me." He takes her wrist and tries to pull her hand away. His touch is hot to her, it burns her. But not in an entirely bad way, as she would have expected. It's weird.

"Oh my God…" She was so humiliated she could just drop dead. Mercifully he changes the subject.

"Who's this Katie Pierce?"

"She's a skank. Probably just your speed."

"Well damn. If you dislike her, she must be a girl scout."

"Nope, she's a slag."

"I wonder how she'd feel if she knew you said that." He lifts an eyebrow.

"Feel free to tell her. She knows exactly how I feel, so it wouldn't be news."

"What exactly did she do to make you hate her so much?"

Bonnie stared daggers into him. "Don't ask me personal questions."

He holds up his hands and shrugs."Forget I asked. You are just full of poison, aren't you?"

"You don't know the half. But you'll find out if you don't get into your textbooks and get out of my damn business. "

They pass the hour arguing over his assignment, but surprisingly, the assignment gets done. Bonnie breathes a sigh of relief when it's time for her to get out of there. Signs the time log, since they no longer trust them to meet for the entire time.

The next week is spent sweet talking people, handing out candy and smiles (many of them fake) to get their nominations. Not that she's ever had a problem being nominated before, but she won't be taking any chances.

The announcement for homecoming king and queen comes over lunch.

"And the nominees for our queen are…" They started off with a couple of nobodies that Bonnie didn't care about. She just rolled her eyes.

The next name is announced. "Katie Pierce."

"Boooooooo!" Bonnie and her friends all jeer her. A few cheered for her, though, more than Bonnie is comfortable with. She isn't surprised but she's disgusted. The other names are of no consequence; they're nobodies, really. The competition lay between Bonnie and Kate. And she's about to smoke Kate's ass.

"And finally, Bonnie Bennett." The lunchroom erupts in cheers, and Bonnie stands and pretends to do a dramatic curtsy, and daintily adjust the imaginary crown on her head with her fingertips.

The boy's nominees are next. Another couple of nobodies come before they hear:

"Malachai Parker." The lunchroom erupt into cheers again, and Kai stands and salutes the crowd as his friends pretend to dust his shoulders off.

"And last but not least, Damon Salvatore."

Impossible. Bonnie doesn't hear what sort of response he gets; this is the shock of her young life! Who the hell nominated him? Did he nominate himself?

Damon Salvatore, Mystic Falls North homecoming king?


	5. And the Winner is

Bonnie doesn't let her shock show through. Instead, she cranks up the bravado. "Let's celebrate! I'm about to win this thing!"

"Do you have your speakers?" Liv whips them out and Bonnie puts on one of her favorite ego-stroking songs, "Monster," but she only ever plays Nicki Minaj's verse. They crank up the volume on the speakers, so as soon as the song starts blasting everyone turns to look.

She does an actual dance routine in her spiked heels. By the time it gets to "you could be the king but watch the queen conquer," Caroline, Liv and Elena recognize the dance she's doing (one they came up with for dance squad) and one by one the fall in next to her, following her move for move.

The next moment she actually steps onto the seats and then onto to lunch table. Students scurry to move their lunch trays as she struts down the table, then drops it low, pops it, then rolls back up, all in her spiked heels.

"Now look at what you just saw, this is what you live for! Aaaaaahhhh! I'm a motherfuckin' monstaaaaaa!" A hall monitor beckons her down off the table, shaking their head in disdain. Kai fits his hands around her waist and lowers her down, laughing the whole time. The lunchroom explodes in applause.

She blows Katie a kiss and waves. _Top that, bitch._

Bonnie gets together with her girls the very next day to plan her campaign strategy.

"Okay, our plan of attack is still divide and conquer, with each of us playing to our strengths. I want posters, I want candy, I want a party, I want geeks feeling popular but not actually being popular. I want losers feeling included but not really being included. I want all the lames in this school to be unified in their support of me."

"Elena, you're handling the eggheads, band geeks, Mathletes again this year? because if I have to deal with their stuttering for more than five minutes I promise I will scream."

"I got you covered, Bon."

"Fabulous. Caroline?"

"Theater kids, Glee Club, art nerds. I got it."

"Liv?"

"Stoners, goths and other assorted outcasts."

Of course, Bonnie herself would deal with those at the top of the heap. The athletes, dance squad and the other cool kids they were already sewed up though. No worries there.

The cheerleaders would most likely vote for Katie, which she was not happy with but she would make do. There were only like a dozen of them.

"Let's do this, Ladies. I will not lose."

Bonnie has flunkies, trying to gain her favor, that she uses for various purposes. Spying and gathering intel is one of those underlings report back to her with whisperings of how some people want to vote for Katie…but quite a few of them want to vote for Damon. Bonnie bares her teeth at the thought.

She sweet talks one of them into making a ton of lil chocolate candies with pink flags "vote for Bon", and she assigns a team to pass them out in the halls and during lunches.

Computer nerds design and print beautiful "vote for Bonnie" posters. She beams in satisfaction when she sees how great she looks up on the walls.

She spreads gossip about the epic party everyone will be invited to if she wins, even the outcasts. She cringes at the thought, but hey, this is war.

Whatever Katie and Damon are doing, it can't match this.

"So you're running, huh?" It's Wednesday, and they've been starting their sessions without arguing lately, but Bonnie's not sure she can keep that up under the circumstances.

"Looks that way." He flashes that stupid grin at her.

Bonnie smirks and crosses her arms. "I feel for you. Actually, I take that back. I'm going to love rubbing it in when Kai buries you."

"You remember what I said about a regime change."

"You remember what I said about being a nobody at North. That hasn't changed, Damon."

They exchange heated glances before Bonnie casually changes the subject.

"Anyway, about this comp paper…"

"The Old Man and The Sea."

"I never understood that weird little book. A man gets in a boat and chases a giant fish all over the place."

"You didn't get it because you're immature. The point was, the old man wouldn't back down because he was getting the thrill of his life, just when it was starting to look like he was too old and had lost his touch. He was on a streak of bad luck before the marlin came along. He was once the best, now people called him cursed."

"Lemme guess, you can relate? Since you're old and washed up and all?"

"Yes, that's exactly why," he says in a mocking tone. "It's not because I actually understood the book or anything."

"Don't try to pretend you're actually deep, Damon Salvatore." He suddenly smiles wide at her.

"Wait, wait, wait, did I actually just hear my given name come out of your mouth?"

Bonnie exhales exaggeratedly and rolls her eyes. "You're going soft on me, Bennett. I always knew that desire would eventually start to show through. I'm irresistible."

"You're gross." She shoves the book into his stomach. He "oomfs" but continues to give her his snake-like teasing grin. She says his name one time and he thinks she's confessing her undying love for him.

"You've been saying that for years. I'm starting to think you don't really believe it."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." Maybe he could fool some of these other bimbos with his backwards charm but she wasn't one of them.

It only gets worse when he actually starts to campaign. He's handsome and charming. He's mysterious, fresh and new to the students at Mystic Falls North. The girls love him and the guys want to be him. Also, he's single. The girls have a chance, whereas they know they'll get their wig snatched if they look at Kai the wrong way. He's starting to gain popularity and momentum.

There's a real possibility she could be crowned queen to his king.

Then he does the unexpected, the vile, the forbidden. He starts teaming with Katie Pierce.

So it becomes a battle.

Bonnie and Kai see the two of them in the lunchroom together looking like a new power couple. Students flock around them; a few are people who normally flocked around _them._ Bonnie did not like her audience being stolen like that. "This will not stand," She says aloud.

Wednesday comes around again fast. "So you're teaming with Kate Pierce, huh?"

"Looks that way."

Bonnie's lip curled in disgust. "You two are a train wreck. The sum of your train wreck is greater than its parts. I throw up in my mouth just looking at you."

"And yet you just can't look away. It really bothers you that I teamed with her."

"Didn't I already tell you how loathsome she is?"

"I think there's a hint of jealousy there."

"My dear Damon," Bonnie shakes her head slowly, a smug smile on her face, her voice light. "You _want_ me to be jealous, so you're seeing things that aren't there. I would have to enjoy your company in order to be jealous. And I hate being around you. I'd rather gouge out my own eyes."

"Poetic."

"Katie Pierce doesn't have a snowflake's chance in hell of beating me." She tosses her hair. "And you deserve to know that You can't beat my boyfriend. You're wasting your time. Save yourself the effort and bow out gracefully while you still can."

"The words of a woman who feels her status quo being threatened." Bonnie's face returned to a scowl. "You and that little boyfriend of yours had better watch your pretty little asses. I'm coming for you." He did an exaggerated villain laugh that grated on Bonnie's nerves.

As soon as she's out of the library the first thing she sees is a new poster, with Damon and Katie.

It shows the two of them wearing crowns, and beneath their pictures it says, "a new era of homecoming royalty." It's a fantastic poster.

The audacity. The nerve.

Bonnie shot Kai a text.

 _We need to turn up the heat._

Bonnie calls on her network of art nerds and computer geeks. They brainstorm themes and costumes, and the outcome is brilliant.

Kai is King Leonidas from 300, the posters showing him with a red cape and a shield, and without a shirt, looking like he's calling his troops to battle. The posters read "This…is…MF NORTH!" Girls swoon, and teachers to snatch them down in outrage. After the point has been made, they replace them with clothed ones…although the ripped muscle tee barely counts.

Bonnie goes Game of Thrones; she's Daenerys Targaryen. A photography geek does a shoot for her, and she puts on a wig trailing waves of blonde hair and a flowing royal blue dress; she's covered in gold bangles, pendants and rings. Both her chin and her arms are lifted, gracefully,

with a fan blowing for added effect. The poster is perfect. Along the top it reads, "the mother of dragons won't be denied her throne" and along the bottom; "All fakes must die."

Finally, the announcement of king and queen comes over the loud speaker during lunch. Everyone's silent with anticipation. Bonnie keeps her face cool and sure, but she wishes she could cross her fingers.

"Ladies first."

The suspenses was killing her.

"Our 2015 homecoming queen, chosen by popular vote, is…Drum roll please…" The fake drum roll seemed to go on forever.

"Bonnie Bennett!"

"Yes!" she yelled, unable to hold back her glee.

She searches for Katie, thirsty for the crestfallen look on her face. She isn't disappointed. Katie's doing a horrible job of hiding how pissed she is. Bonnie catches her eye. She purses her lips and tilts her head as if to say, "take that."

She tried to hide her fear as she waited for the announcement for the men. It finally comes.

"Kai Parker!"

Bonnie breathed a surreptitious sigh of relief. Finally, something had gone right. One precious thing had decided to go right.

They blast some music and dance on the table again, this time her and Kai. As she grinds on him he finds Damon Salvatore, and gives him the snootiest most stuck up look possible. She thinks she sees those icy eyes of his darken before he looks away. Then the lunchroom monitor makes them get down off the table again.

Of course, Kai throws a massive party at his house.

Everybody's celebrating with them, kissing their asses. They follow through on their promise to invite the geeks and lames. They don't want to burn any bridges for future favors, and of course, prom votes. For the geeks all the hard work was beyond worth it. They'd sell their mothers for a chance to get into a party like this.

It's wild, it's crazy, everybody's shit faced, everybody's dancing, things get broken, drunken fights break out, people hook up.

It's four in the morning when Bonnie finally ends up in Kai's bedroom, ready to pass out.

They're rolling around on his king-sized bed, making out, and his hands are all over her, and he's kissing her neck, down her chest and…

unfastening her pants. Bonnie bats his hands away.

"The rule, Kai." Nothing below the waist, ever. That was the rule.

Kai huffs like he wants to have a temper tantrum. "Come on, Bon, just this once let's break the rule. We're seniors and we won homecoming royalty, and we had this huge party to celebrate. Let's keep it going. Tonight's perfect."

"No, tonight is not perfect." To lose her virginity? That's the thing; she's never had sex. Ever. She and Kai had done…things. Here and there. But not much.

"If tonight's not perfect, then when will be? I mean, everything went right for us today. We had the time of our lives. What more do you want?"

"I told you I want to wait. You told me you respect that."

"And I do."

"It doesn't seem that way." She has to tear his hands away from the fly of her jeans, because he's trying get it unzipped again."What's going on with you lately?"

"I'm a man, Bonnie. Men have needs."

"Oh my God." She rolled her eyes. "Please don't give me that."

"Is it wrong that I want to make love to my beautiful girlfriend?" His words are slurred and he leans into her, bringing his face close to hers, lips puckered. Bonnie sidesteps him with disgusted look on her face. Why was he acting like this?

He fixes her with a serious look. "Bonnie. I can't wait forever."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Her head is swimming from the liquor, and while it's making it hard for her to think, it's making it much easier for her to get pissed. He doesn't answer so she knocks his things off his nightstand and storms out. Actually, staggers out.

She goes into his little brother Luke's room and climbs into bed with him, grumbling.

"What did he do now?" Luke asks drowsily.

"Bein' azzhole," she snarls as she molds herself to Luke's back and throws an arm around him.

"What else is new?" Luke mutters as he drifts back to sleep. Bonnie's already snoring.

The granola cereal clatters into the bowl as Bonnie pours it at the Parker kitchen table the next morning. The clattering makes her head pound. She has a massive hangover.

Kai wanders down, eyes bloodshot and hair unkempt, stepping over the bodies of all the classmates that are still passed out. He gets a spoon so he can eat out of her bowl.

"I was drunk." He began.

"Yeah, and when people are drunk that's when their real feelings come out."

He paused for a moment before continuing.

"Honestly Bonnie, I wasn't lying when I said what I said." Bonnie turned her face away, frustrated. "People in relationships, who love each other, they have sex. People who don't even know each other, who can't stand each other, have sex. I'm eighteen years old. I'm a man. I love you, and want to make a future with you. If we're going to be together for the long haul, what difference does it make if we start now?"

"You said, when we started this, you _said_ that you wouldn't rush me. You said that you would wait as long as I needed."

"That was two years ago. Things have changed. We're not kids anymore, Candy. I have needs. I'm tired of waiting."

He didn't say it out loud, but he didn't have to. There was an ultimatum there. She wasn't sure what the deadline was. She didn't want to lose him, but she also didn't want to jeopardize her future. She just wasn't ready.

Where would their relationship go, then, if neither was willing to bend?


	6. Edge of Seventeen

"When we started this we made an agreement. You said you respected my decision, and that's part of the reason you love me; because I have strong convictions and I stand my ground. I'm not going to change my mind now, Malachai," her voice was wavering, she hoped he couldn't hear it. If he changed his mind, if he decided that no, he wasn't going to wait for her, what then?

In her mind she ran through all of the plans they'd made, of all the plans she'd made; college, careers, hyphenating her last name, two-point-three children. After all they'd been through, she prayed he wasn't going to throw it all away. She pretended she was strong. She pretended she was sure.

Kai took a deep breath. "You're right," he began, "I respected you for your choices then and I should respect them now. For you, I can wait," He didn't look happy about it, but he'd agreed. She exhaled. She could finally breathe again. She rushed into his arms, not caring if she looked like a fool. She was just glad he was still hers. Kai wrapped his arms round her, as strong as they ever were. His touch was as familiar as it always had been, after all the time she'd known him. She took in his scent and the hardness of his body.

"It's not that I don't want to, Kai," she murmured into his chest, "it's just that it's a such a big decision, and I'm afraid…so many things could happen that could jeopardize our future…"

"I get it, Candy, it's alright," he was calling her Candy again, using the soothing voice he used when she was upset, so he must mean it. He has to.

"I just want us to go back to the way we were," she whispered as he held her. She bit back tears. There had been a lot of ups and downs already this year. She needed her man to be her one constant.

"Wanna get on the court and play a couple of games of Horse? Get back to normal?"

"I would love that," she whispered, eyes glassy.

With her hair tied back into a braid, her basketball shoes on, and a ball in her hand, she felt reenergized. Once she was sweating, running drills with Kai, playing him in one-on-one, she felt invincible. This was familiar, safe. For just a moment she felt like all was right with the world. She won best two out of three games.

"So you're not gonna say anything about it?" Damon asked, accusatorially. It was Wednesday, already.

"Say anything about what?" Bonnie replied, keeping it cute.

"About your little win."

"My little win? My little win…" she tapped her pencil on her textbook as if trying to remember. "Oooooh, you mean my win for Homecoming Queen? In which I beat Katie Pierce? In which I reestablished my dominance over the school and reminded everybody who run it? And if I remember correctly didn't you lose?" She pointed her pencil at him. "Yes, I think you did lose, to my handsome and talented boyfriend, who is the king around here. But, you know. I wasn't gonna rub it in." She shrugs, not bothering to hide her smirk.

"Is that so."

"No, because it's such an obvious fact I didn't think it needed to be said out loud."

"Whatever," Damon grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"What, no snappy comeback? I mean, what could you possibly say, right?"

"I could say that you're not doing a good job of explaining this homework."

"Uh oh, someone's pouting. It's okay, a queen knows how to keep her cool in this situation."

"You're unbearable, Bennett."

She smiles smugly. "That's QUEEN Bennett to you. I thought about wearing my tiara, but I felt charitable. I think you've taken enough of a beating, don't you?" Bonnie gloats the rest of the session.

She felt like she was back on top.

 _I need to get ready for homecoming, and tryouts, and keep myself on track with her grades and extracurriculars,_ she thinks, _but I have nothing to worry about. I've kept things tight in all those areas._

 _There's only one thing that could make this better…but should I risk it?_

 _Fuck it. I'm gonna try._

She pulled out her phone, and dialed. After several rings it went to voicemail. "Mommy, guess what? I won homecoming queen, again! Second year in a row! And I'm still in National Honor Society, and I'm doing lots of volunteer work as a tutor…" she didn't mention that it was punishment. "I have so much good stuff going on, and I wanted to tell you about it. Plus, you know my birthday's around the corner, right? Do you want to grab lunch or something sometime? I, um, I have some extra money, so I could even treat you! You know, if you want. Well, I love you! See you soon, I hope!"

Bonnie's mother Abby was a deadbeat, to put it lightly. She rarely spoke to Bonnie, and saw her even less. It wasn't from a lack of trying on Bonnie's part; after her parents divorce when she was seven, her mother seemed to simply lose interest in her. Bonnie would call, write letters, send pictures, and very little of it moved Abby to be active in her life. She strung young Bonnie along with false hopes of quality time together that would inevitably turn into broken promises.

As time went on Bonnie began to think of herself as a nuisance, and hoped that if she stopped bothering Abby so much, she would come around more. So far that theory hadn't worked.

It had been nearly six months since the last time they exchanged so much as a text message, and before that had been another six month stretch. Bonnie needed it to be different this time.

Days dragged by with nothing from her.

Every time her phone buzzed, her heart leapt. Every time it wasn't Abby, her heart dropped. At lunch Kai watched her face fall when the text alert turned out to be someone other than her mother, yet again.

"You called your mom, didn't you?" Kai asked knowingly.

"Yes," she moped, burying her head in her folded arms.

"You gotta stop doing this to yourself, Bonnie."

"She'll call, Kai. She will."

He gave her a look. He'd never liked her mother and was always skeptical. "If you say so."

Bonnie's disappointment had her down in the dumps. She should have known better than to have hope.

But then she got a text in fourth period that made her whole month.

 **Hi, Pumpkin. Congratulation on all the big accomplishments! How about dinner? Meet today at five, our spot?**

Bonnie's heart swelled with the praise, and she was so excited she felt like she was going to fly out of her seat. Her hands shook as she replied.

 **Yes! I can't wait! I'll see you at five, our spot!**

Bonnie had plans, but, well, she HAD plans. They all went out the window.

Bonnie forwarded the message to Kai.

 **See? I'm meeting with her today!**

 **I hope you're right.**

Ugh. She did not need his negativity right now.

She sent her dad a text, too.

 **Meeting with Mommy for dinner! I'll be home late!**

 **Really? Have fun! I'll see you when you get home.**

At least Dad wasn't such a skeptic.

Bonnie rushed to get out of the school and get to Banneker Park, by the house they lived in when Bonnie was small. She was early. She made her way to the open field where they used to come when they were still a family. As she got comfortable on a nearby bench, she flashed back to the times they would come here and have picnics on fuzzy blankets. Abby would pack her favorite, peanut butter and banana sandwiches with the crusts cut off. She and Rudy would eat brie and duck pate and baguettes spread with chocolate, because they both loved French food.

Bonnie would fly her Disney Princess kite, on windy days, with the help of her parents. When it got too chilly the three of them would hug with Bonnie squashed in the middle. Then they would challenge her to a race to the car, and] Bonnie would always magically win.

Bonnie smiled, wishing she could go back, just for a few minutes.

She checked her hair and makeup in her compact. _I wish I would have had a chance to pick a better outfit. I hope Mommy thinks I look pretty today. I wonder what we're eating for dinner? Maybe french food._

She tried to get some homework done but she was too antsy so concentrate, so she just sat, adjusting her position frequently as she watched all the people enjoying their leisure time.

Abby's already a little late when who should saunter by but Damon.

"We have to stop meeting like this, Bennett. People will start to talk," he winked at her.

"Fuck you, Salvatore." She would not be distracted by him right now.

"Jesus Christ. We're even more poisonous than usual today. Is your tampon barbed?"

"Move along, Nuisance." She waves him away.

"Have a lovely evening, Succubus." She flipped him off and refused to look in his direction.

It's not until an hour later that Bonnie starts to think maybe she's been stood up, again. She stays, hoping against hope that she'll look up and Abby will be standing there with a hug and explanation. It's fall, and the sun is already going down. It's getting chilly. Bonnie knows she's being ridiculous, but she can't leave, she has to stay here. _Mommy said she was coming. She said so._

Bonnie finally moves after another hour, when she loses the battle with the tears. She finds a different, more secluded bench. She looks left and looks right; no one's around to see her fall apart. Thank God, because it would be horrible for her image.

"Screw my image," she says aloud to herself, as a salty tear runs down her face. Elbows on knees and face in hands, she starts to cry.

"I can't seem to avoid you, no matter how hard I try. Trust me, I tried really hard."

Not him. Anybody but him.

It took him no time at all to realize how upset she was.

"Whoa, whoa, no need to cry, Bennett, you haven't heard my worst insults for you yet."

"You're not funny," was all she could manage to squeak out.

"What the hell happened to you?"

"My deadbeat mom stood me up, okay?" She raised her voice at him, "Happy? You get to see me at my worst. Go ahead and tell everybody you've ever known."

He surprised her; he wasn't rude. He didn't ridicule her.

"I know all about dysfunctional mothers." He actually tried to sympathize.

Bonnie didn't buy it. "Get away from me, Salvatore!"

"Fine," he snapped, "I was just trying to be nice to you. Sit there and be miserable, for all I care." She cried harder. "Jesus Christ, Bennett, you and your drama." He dug in his pocket for a piece of tissue and dropped down next to her. He offered it and she snatched it from him, loudly blowing her nose. For a long moment they didn't say anything, they just sat.

"I know you think I'm an asshole, but I actually know when to be serious. Do you want to talk about it?"

Dear God, he was being nice to her. She hated to admit it, but it was nice that he offered.

"No, but thank you. It's probably giving you a brain aneurysm to be nice to me," she sniffled.

"You have no idea," he said, but his smile was compassionate.

Damon put his arm across the back of the bench and scooted closer to hand her another shredded pocket tissue, which Bonnie gratefully accepted. She loathed herself for crying in front of him, but it couldn't be helped.

She got the shock of her life when his arm lowered around her shoulders. It was such a foreign feeling that she nearly jumped straight up off the bench, but although it went against everything she stood for, she needed some comfort right about then.

"Thank you, she whispered, voice faint. She let herself relax a bit and rested her face against his him. His chest was solid, and he smelled nice, and he was warm against the chill of the fall night.

"After this we go back to arguing. I'm going to keep hating you, Salvatore."

"I'm counting on it. Haters power me up." He flexed his free bicep. Bonnie couldn't help but laugh, just a little.

"Was that an actual laugh? From Bonnie Bennett?"

"Don't get used to it. It was a fluke, from being caught in a vulnerable position."

"I don't think so. I think I'm wearing you down." Instead of his usual persistent cockiness, he's gently prodding to lift her spirits.

"Don't hold your breath." Instead of snapping as usual, she's teasing, a small smile to go along with it.

"Now we know we're both human beings under all our tough talk. Guess I'm gonna have to ramp up my snark to compensate."

"I expect nothing less." The closeness and touching stop being repulsive and become comforting, and though she would never admit it, thrilling. She wanted to put her arms around him too. That secret, however, was coming with her to the grave.

Damon sat with her, as quiet and watchful as a sentinel, until the sun was low in the sky.

She did indeed get home late, but not for the reasons she would have liked.

"So how was it?" Rudy asked in an excited tone. Bonnie felt shitty all over again.

"Nonexistent." Bonnie retorted flatly, rushing past him so he wouldn't see how much of a wreck she was. But she should have known; her dad knows her inside and out.

She came downstairs that evening to hear Rudy on the phone. "You need to make a decision, Abigail. Do you want to be a mother or don't you? You're not going to keep playing with my daughter's emotions. Yes, MY daughter. You can't even show up for a dinner date so she can tell you that she won homecoming queen and that she's on the honor roll, all of which she's doing without YOU. It's her birthday, for God's sake. Her eighteenth birthday. Did you even remember that? Don't you remember giving birth to her?" There was a pause as she heard Abby argue with him. "You know what, you've made you position clear. Just stay away from her. Do not talk to her, do not call her, do not text her. Stay out of her life for good this time. This is the last time you break a promise." He slammed the phone down on the hanger.

Bonnie was unable to hold back her anger. She rushed forward, screaming at him. "Dad, what are you doing?! You can't tell Mom not to see me!"

Rudy sighed. "Bonnie, it's time we stopped all this."

"I'm an adult now Dad, you can't make my decisions for me! You can't stop me from seeing her!"

"Bonnie, I don't know how to say this to you. Look at her pattern of behavior. She's never going to be what you need her to be. You have to stop hurting yourself."

"No! No you're wrong!" She just can't face the alternative, that her mother doesn't want to be in her life and it's time to let go. But as she examines her situation, she sees it for what it really is.

"I'm a fool, Dad. I'm so stupid." Again she's crying, and she's tired of it, but it won't stop.

She could no longer be in denial about her mother's behavior. She had to face the fact that for whatever reason, Abby was never going to be what she needed her to be. All Bonnie's feelings started to rush out. Humiliation, foolishness, abandonment, loneliness.

"I'm not good enough. Something's wrong with me."

"No, no, Bonnie, this isn't your fault. This is on her, entirely on her."

Her father grabs her in a bearhug and holds her tight as she breaks down sobbing on his shoulder. A decade worth of sadness floods out.

"You're a good kid, Bonnie. Anybody would love to have you as a daughter. You deserve better."

"Why doesn't she want me, Dad?" Bonnie hiccuped as she wept, an ugly-faced, noise-making weep. Rudy wishes he did, but he didn't have a good answer for her.

"I'm sorry, Sweetheart. I'm so sorry."

Her alarm jerks her awake the next morning. She ignored it as long as humanly possible but her head was pounding and the noise cut through her like a saw. Seven thirty-seven in the morning, November fifth. She's eighteen years old.


	7. Choosing Teams

Being eighteen is a brand new world. Bonnie's a legal adult. She can go to clubs. She has no curfew. She can pick up and move to another state if she wants to, because eighteen-year-olds have the right to do that. She and Elena and Caroline already have road trips planned and clubs to party in, but…for once she needs a break from all the excitement.

She takes the next few days to lick her wounds, get on the court with Kai, and pick out a dress. When Homecoming starts she'll be back to her normal, fabulous self. In the meantime she drags Kai to the mall with her and makes him sit for hours until she finds just the right gown.

He dutifully holds out his arms while she piles on various colors in tulle, organza, and satin, until he's buried.

"Are you feeling better?" He asks, voice muffled from behind all of the dress material.

"Why, whatever do you mean?" She replies in her best southern belle voice, even though she knows exactly what he's talking about. She flounces into a dressing room with the first dress, avoiding Kai's twisted up facial expression.

"I told you not to do it," His voice is sour, with an I-told-you-so edge to it.

Bonnie sighs from inside her stall. The last thing she needs is a lecture. "And you were right, Kai. I don't plan on putting myself through that, ever again. Let's just forget about it," She calls to him.

"Okay, then how excited are you for tryouts?" His demeanor totally changes. She can tell he's smiling his slyest. Bonnie actually jumps up and down, her hair fanning out around her, the heels of her pumps clacking on the department store floor.

"I can't wait, I can't wait, I can't wait!" she gushes like a big kid. "I'm ready to really run this team."

She comes back out in a neon pink number. "What do you think?" she quizzes him, her face already saying that she doesn't really like it.

"Too pink," he replies, wrinkling his nose.

"Same thing I thought," she sighs, heading back into the dressing room.

"I wonder who's gonna make a fool of themselves and who's going to actually step up."

"I know my girls are ready." Of course, Liv, Elena, and Caroline are also on the team.

"Well, yeah, you've got a lot of seniors and juniors on varsity this year. I'm working with a ton of fresh meat. "

"I don't envy you," She answers in a low voice. She really means it. He doesn't mention it but Damon's going to be on the team, without question. It could only end in tears; she doesn't know what form it will take, but there's going to be a showdown between them for sure.

What's worse in, for the first time in her life, she finds herself looking forward to seeing Damon play. _Not because I've stopped hating him, never that. We'll call it morbid curiosity. No big deal._ She shrugs to herself as she slides on another dress. Of course, she'll never tell Kai that. It's her job to be supportive, no matter what. She starts again in an upbeat tone, "But, that gives you all the more time to shine."

"True that. We gotta look sharp. I heard scouts are coming down from Michigan state."

"Ooh, Big Ten."

"I'm more of a SEC kind of guy."

"Everybody is. The Big Ten isn't what it used to be. Michigan State would still be a hell of a team to play for, though. The green and white." She steps out of the dressing room, hands on her hips. She lifts one eyebrow and bats her eyes at her boyfriend, a cat-line smirk on her face. "Speaking of green." It's an emerald organza gown with veins of silver running down its folds, a sweetheart neckline, bejeweled bodice with a belt around the waist. She can tell by Kai's face that she picked a winner.

"Woooooooow. Green always was the perfect color on you."

"I feel like the princess I am."

"You're the queen, remember?" He winks at her and gives her the look that always makes her melt. He kisses her as she slips her arms around his waist. "I have the hottest girlfriend on the planet," he mumbles into her hair.

"And don't you forget it," she sighs into his hard chest.

"Please, just forget you ever saw me the way you did," Bonnie tells Damon when she sees him the next Wednesday.

"I get it, you have an image to uphold. Your secret's safe with me, Basketball Barbie." So she smiles. "By the way, I hear that approximately eighteen years ago a curse was laid upon Earth and its name was Bonnie Bennett. Happy birthday."

She furrows her brow in surprise. "How did you know?"

"Heard it through the grapevine." He does a bit of a Temptations dance move that makes Bonnie scream with horror; but she has to admit, it's charming. Still, she has to give him a hard time.

"Do yourself a favor, and never do that again, ever." Damon continues to catch her off guard and pulls a chocolate candy bar out of his pocket and wordlessly offers it to her. Bonnie's eye widen. It's favorite of hers from junior high, and they weren't in convenience stores like they used to be. "Oh em gee, I love these! I haven't had one in forever! How did you know?"

"Well, you're a girl, sort of," he shrugged and rolled his eyes, "and girls like chocolate. The plan is to ensure you can't fit into your homecoming dress." She pressed down her smile and snatched it out of his hand.

"You're getting to be a little too nice, Salvatore, I'm starting to get scared."

"It's been like two days. Two days won't kill us."

"It's been like seven."

"Okay fine, I'll turn my humanity back off. That makeup looks disastrous. Did you escape from the freak show?"

"That's more like it," Bonnie finds herself giggling. She quickly silences it, but can't help the happy feeling in her chest. Such a small thing, but so thoughtful. Suddenly her day felt much brighter.

After her session with Damon comes the big moment; it's time to get suited up for the very first day of basketball tryouts. She's nervous, but at the same time she's never feel more ready to shine. She changes and gets on the court in no time. Kai is already there, shooting around.

"Who's this handsome man on the court?" she calls out, and when he turns and sees her standing there he grins wide, his smile perfect and white, and he looks so good in his black and red jersey with his biceps bulging and standing so tall, she can't help but throw herself at him. They give each other good luck kisses -or maybe have an inappropriate make-out session that their coaches have to call them out on- for good luck before the girl's tryouts begind. "Knock em dead, Gorgeous." He pats her on the butt, and she grins shyly. The men' team sits on the bleachers and Kai joins them, watching and waiting for their turn.

Moments later Bonnie's watching the hopefuls fall in line as their senior captain. Her arms are crossed and her face is fixed into a no-nonsense scowl. She has no real competition from any of them, and she feels so much more confident as the one who runs the team. She glances at the freshman and JV teams, practicing in another corner, with mild disinterest. _Children,_ she thinks. When she sees the possible new additions to varsity she thinks, _these are my daughters. They need to be taught, and they need to be kept in line, and know they can't take my spot._

From the corner of her eye she sees movement. Here come the cheerleaders. They're lead by non other than Katie Pierce.

"Bitches," Bonnie curls her lip as they walk past. Katie and Bonnie exchange nasty looks. They're like ticking time bombs, anyone could see they're on the verge of going off on each other.

At the end of the court Katie flashes someone a flirty look. She follows her line of sight and sees…Kai. He lowers his chin and smirks at her. Is he biting his lip? Impossible.

Bonnie is taken aback. _I couldn't have seen what I thought I saw?_

Hearing someone call her name brings her back to reality. "Bonnie, would you like to say a few words to your new team as the captain?" Her head coach, Bonasera, asks her. Bonnie's rattled, and suddenly embarrassed and enraged. She takes the opportunity to take it out on her new teammates.

She picks up a basketball and claps it between her hands, hard. It makes loud smack sound that echoes throughout the gym. The girls snap to attention.

"Understand this, kids, you're all my daughters. Stay in line and follow directions because I have every intention of raising you right. I didn't get this far by letting my team run wild. If you do as you're told we'll get along just fine. If you step out of line best believe you will be punished swiftly and severely. Was that in anyway unclear?" There was only silence and wide eyes staring back at her. "I didn't think so. Let's get to work." She chest passes the ball to the girl nearest to her without warning, and the girl oomphs as it hits her in the stomach and knocks the wind out of her. Bonnie see Liv and Elena hiding smiles and Caroline snorts a laugh that she pretends is a cough.

"Not what I was expecting," her coach mumbles, "but okay." This was Bonnie Bennett, she thinks, it could have been worse.

"MOVE!" Bonnie roars, and the hopefuls jump do follow her orders. They start jogging around the gym to warmup, Bonnie following on their heels barking orders.

Her scare tactics work and the first day of tryouts for the women's team go very smooth.

Kai''s watching her from the bleachers, and she sees him smile and nod encouragement. She smiles back with more confidence than she feels, unable to shake the thought of what she thought she saw.

She throws herself into practice, hoping to sweat away her suspicions and clear her head. It's quickly apparent who will not make the team and Bonnie does not waste her time on them, except to criticize them to discourage them from coming back. Instead she focuses on those who have potential. At the end of the two hours, although it has gone by fast, Bonnie feels more invigorated than she had before she started. It's time to get off the court so the men's tryouts can begin.

Most of the men's team is already there and has been watching from the sidelines. Kai comes down, leading the pack. He stops her with his fingers curled in her jersey. "Looking good out there, Babe. I could see the fear on their faces from all the way at the top of the bleachers." He kisses her forehead, and Bonnie's eyes close, comforted by the familiar gesture, reminding herself that this is still her boyfriend.

"You go do the same, Handsome." She stands on her tiptoes and presses a kiss to his neck, her palms flat on his heart yes. She sees movement over his shoulder and sees none other than Damon Salvatore, passing a ball back and forth to Stefan. He sees her eyes peeking over Kai's shoulder and a sickening grin crosses his face and he winks at her with his devilish blue eyes.

Bonnie feels a strange rush when she sees him. First of all, it isn't hate, and that's what she _SHOULD_ be feeling. No, instead, she feel a sort of excitement, almost like she's perking up at the sight of him. It's…wrong. She needs it to end right now.

She digs her fingers into the dark hair at the base of Kai's skull and pulls him in for something more substantial; something with a bit more tongue. When he pulls back her looks at her in surprise.

"A little extra motivation?" He asks.

"You could say that," she answers, trying to sound sure and certain.

All of the potential men's team players go all out, putting on a show from the start. Damon is no exception. She'll be damned if he isn't good; he's showing why he was the starting PG at West.

"He's making all of his shots," She says quietly.

"He's gotten even better since last year. You better tell Kai to get on his game," Caroline whispers in her ear, and Bonnie elbows her. She watches as Damon does a spin move and flips the basketball up for an easy layup. It drops in the hoop with a swish. One thing's for sure, and it's that he'll be on the team.

"Stefan's kind of hot," she hears Elena mumble under her breath. Bonnie turns to give her a look.

"What? I'm just saying," she says sheepishly.

 _I should be watching Kai_ , she thinks. She swings her attention back to him, clapping for him and calling his name, the way a good girlfriend should. She purposefully avoids looking at Damon in anyway shape or form. It's such a foreign feeling to her; ever since he comforted her on her birthday after her mom's screwup, she has been unable to hate him the way she used to. She finds that she might even think him to be a decent human being. The thought makes her shudder. How gross.

Kai and Damon stay on separate ends of the court as much as possible, and the tension between them is so thick you could cut it with a knife. When their coach calls for a scrimmage, they can't avoid each other any longer. Of course, they're on opposite teams. They play the same position, so they will square off against each other. Bonnie finds herself holding her breath as she watches the two men who have consumed so much of her life these past few months, whether for good or for bad, go against one another.

Damon's team has the ball first, and Bonnie watches as Kai plays defense against him. Their bodies bang into each other much harder than is necessary as Kai tries to block Damon from dribbling forward and Damon puts his shoulder down to shove him back.

"Can you believe Coach Brown is letting them play that rough?" Liv says in her ear. Bonnie says nothing because she's too caught up in watching the drama unfold. Damon calls a play and signals the forwards to run it. Without looking, he passes the ball to the forward who's running past Kai. Kai's caught off guard, and swats at the basketball. The sounds of his hand slapping Damon's skin is loud, and everyone waits to here the coach call a foul. He dosn't.

"They're really lettin' em play," Liv says, her voice hinting that she knows Kai is getting away with murder right now. In the span of a few seconds, Damon runs past Kai and his teammates passes him the ball back right as he gets next to the hoop. He lays the ball in just as easily as he had during warmups. Bonnie's eyebrows go up in shock, and she hears everyone around her whispering. Damon just showed Kai up something serious.

Kai is not a happy camper. He's talking a lot of shit and hacking Damon, and by all rights he should have been called for a foul many times. Maybe the coach is just letting Kai do what he wants because he's the star. Maybe he wants to see what Damon's made of.

Kai now has the ball and is bringing it down the court. Damon jumps in front of him to D him up. Kai goes to drive past him, and faster than anyone can blink Damon pokes the ball out from his fingers. Bonnie can't help but gasp. She tries to cover her mouth before anyone sees. For a moment Kai is stunned as Damon charges down to the end of the court and drops in an easy lay up.

No people are really talking, and many are looking her way to see her response.

"It's okay Babe, shake it off," she yells, trying to seem level-headed, acting like it was no big deal. But is a big deal. It's a huge deal.

Kai gets in Damon face. "That shouldn't be a basket. You fouled me."

"Dude, you've been acting like this is the WWF but now you want to talk about fouls? How about you man up and beat me straight up, _Captain_?" Damon spits out the last word in a mocking voice.

Kai shoves him. Damon shoves Kai back. Shit. They couldn't even get through five whole minutes without a shoving match. Bonnie stands up, ready to run down although she's not sure what she would do. Before it would be her and Kai against Damon; now she just wants them to stop fighting. Coach Brown and the other players come to break them up before fists start flying. They stand there staring each other down until they're separated, and end up in different corners like boxers in the middle of a match. Round one is over, but there would be many more to come, from the looks of things. Those two on the same team means a lot of trouble on the horizon. Bonnie is not looking forward to it.

With that, the first day of tryouts is officially over. Kai is clearly livid. Of course, it's not something new for him, but she knows he feels upset at being shown up in front of so many people. She comes down to talk to him, he is definitely pissed.

"Forget about him, Kai. Remember how he said he wanted to push our buttons? He just wants to get in your head. Don't let him." Kai doesn't seem to really hear her.

"Don't worry about waiting up for me, Babe. I'm just gonna blow off some steam and go home." He marches into the locker room, leaving her standing there. Bonnie hears what he says, but she doesn't believe that he would want to be alone.

"I'm going to wait for him," she tells Caroline and the girls.

"All right Bonnie, let us know if you still want to hang tonight."

"Probably not, I think he's going to want to vent." Elena smiles while Caroline rolls her eyes.

"You're always trying to baby him." Bonnie just ignores her.

"Alright, we'll be in town getting burgers and shakes if you change your mind." Liv tells her. She knew she wouldn't.

"Bye, you guys."

She waits as the stands empty. People straggle away slowly, and the boys teams winds towards the locker rooms. Bonnie knows that Kai typically talks to his team for a few minutes and takes a quick shower, so he should be done in about ten or fifteen minutes. The time goes past and she sees his teammates go out but not him. "Where is Kai?" She asks Mark, the 6'11 center who rides with Kai all the time, ever though he can barely fit into the Charger. He shrugs.

"I don't think he's come out yet."

"Have you seen Kai?" She quizzes Tariq, the forward who's typically riding shotgun in all of her boyfriend's capers. Tariq gives her a look, something about it strange but she doesn't know why. "I, uh, I think he went out the back way."

"Okay, thanks, Ty." Bonnie goes around to look for him.

She finds him.

He's in a corner where the lights are dim, leaning against the wall. Although she's already plenty close, Katie Pierce is strolling up to him, swinging her long legs, a flirtatious smile on her face. Bonnie watches in horror as Katie comes closer and closer to him. Soon she has her tits smashed up against him, and the front of her is plastered to the front of him, and she's running her hand down his pecs the way Bonnie herself always does, and he's not pushing her away, he's _smiling_ …

Bonnie's stunned to silence. She tries to think of what to do, but her brain isn't cooperating with her. She can't stay. She can't watch. _I'm not seeing this_ , she thinks to herself. _I'm not seeing what I think I am_. She backs away quietly and walks away fast, shaking her head as if trying to wake from a nightmare.


	8. Let Me Find Out

It's the very first day of basketball practice. Bonnie's head should be in the game but isn't really there because of so many reasons. For one, homecoming is tomorrow. She ticks off her to-do list in her head. The dress has been tailored and is ready for pick up. Check. She's got an appointment to get her makeup professionally done right when she leaves after third period. Check. She's got a hair appointment right after that. Check. Then Mal will come for pics with her dad, then they'll stop off for pics at his house, then-

"Am I imagining things, or did Kai give Katie Pierce 'the eye'?" Caroline's voice breaks into her thoughts like a sledgehammer. Bonnie tries to hide the stab of pain that flashes through her.

"You're imagining things, Caroline," Her reply is her usual casual and smug, with much more certainty than she feels. If other people were noticing things now…she pushes it from her mind quickly. She couldn't deal with it right now. Maybe not ever.

"I thought she and Damon Salvatore had a gross little thing going on," Caroline continues.

"You know I know absolutely zero about what Salvatore is doing," Bonnie says with a snort and a flip of her hair. Caroline gives her a sideways look. "What?" Bonnie asks. Caroline just rolls her eyes.

They watch the men's teams scrimmage.

"They sure didn't waste any time putting Salvatore in the number two spot," Bonnie grumbles.

"Let's be real, why would they? I mean, you have to admit, the guy's crazy talented," Elena says, ever the voice of reason.

"I don't have to admit anything," Bonnie quips.

"We know that all too well," Caroline retorts.

Instead of having Kai and Damon square off against each other, this time they're on the same team. They try Damon in the two position, which means Kai is still running the plays and the floor, and Damon has to follow his lead. Bonnie's not sure if that's better or worse than them going head up.

Imagine her surprise when Damon dribbles to the basket, driving between two defenders, but instead of taking the shot he passes the ball back to Kai at the last minute. Kai catches it easily, jumps high into the air and dunks the basketball over the defenders' heads.

Bonnie jumps to her feet screaming, "Go, Baby!" All the spectators go crazy. It's a hell of a play.

As she claps and cheers she thinks about what had happened. Damon had been incredibly unselfish. He'd taken the assist, while giving the ball up to Kai to score and to shine. In the game of basketball, that meant something.

Bonnie can tell that at first Kai isn't sure how to feel, but then he begrudgingly gives Damon credit, saying a simple and quick "nice pass".

"Don't mention it," Damon replies with a sly smile. Although they don't get the high stats, unselfish ball players are loved by teammates and coaches alike.

"What's he playing at?" Bonnie asks aloud.

"Maybe he's not playing at anything," Elena says, "maybe he's just a good teammate."

"Why don't you just go back to looking at the other Salvatore brother."

"What? I wasn't looking at anybody." Bonnie and Caroline exchange knowing glances.

"You've been eying Stefan's goods since the moment we walked in the gym, don't lie."

Instead of denying it, Elena blushes.

When the whistle blows to signal the end of men's practice, Bonnie, Elena, Caroline, and the rest of their team come down out of the bleachers to warm up.

"Lookin' good out there, Babe. As always," she tells Kai when he comes to give her a kiss. As he heads to the lockers she finds herself keeping a close eye on him and Katie, waiting to see if there are extracurricular activities going on. Kai doesn't even look Katie's way. Bonnie breathes a sigh of relief. However, Damon chooses that exact moment to cross her field of vision and catch her eye. Of course, he winks. Of course, Bonnie flips him off. He only laughs like he always does. Then he's gone.

So many thoughts are now clouding her brain, Bonnie feels like she's going to just freeze solid like a computer screen. So she does what she's good at. She gets a ball in her hand and she just runs. Up and down, up and down, she just runs.

"For our midterm project, we're going to do a book report-" the entire class is back to groaning, "-on a classic novel-" The class groans even louder. Mrs. Walsh says teasingly, "you guys have to let me finish, it gets better. You will be doing this in pairs-" the class perks up a bit, "-that I have already chosen for you! won't that be fun?" She says with the sort of laugh that a person only gets when they enjoy torturing others. Of course, the class groans their loudest at this news. "I have already decided which novels each pair will be doing."

"We don't even get to pick?" Bonnie asks in a deadpan voice, twirling a lock of hair around her finger, a bored look on her face.

"Don't you worry your pretty little head, young Miss Bennett. I know you'll enjoy what I have in store for you."

Bonnie already knows what she's about to say. "No, please don't make me-"

"Since you and Mr. Salvatore have already been working so intimately together you will work as a team."

"-Work with him. Fuckin' A." She slumps over dejectedly. "We haven't been working well together, we've barely been able to keep from ripping each others throats out. "

Damon chooses that time to pipe up."That's not true, Teach. Bonnie's been going above and beyond the call of duty. We're having the time of our lives. I can already feel the increase in my IQ." The class seems to think this is entertaining, and she can hear some of them snickering.

Bonnie turns all the way around in her chair to give him a disgusted look, one that says WTF? She turns back to her teacher, letting the irritation come out in her voice.

"I see him enough after school as it is, you've seen yourself how much we bump heads! This is a disruption to my education!" She says, suddenly sitting up straight and tapping the manicured nail of her index finder down on the desk for emphasis. "This is endangering my grade on this assignment, and therefore my GPA, and therefore my success in applying for colleges. You're messing with my life here."

"No need for the dramatics, Miss Bennett. You'll live." The smirk on her face tells Bonnie everything she needs to know. Obviously this woman has zero life and fifty cats if this is what she uses as entertainment. She probably thinks it's hilarious to make them continue to work together against their will. Well, against Bonnie's, at least.

"I, for one, am very grateful that you're pairing me with Bonnie again, Teach. She and I have become good buddies, whether she realizes it or not. I'm going to have lots of fun being even more buddy-buddy with her."

"That's the spirit, Mr. Salvatore."

He gives Mrs. Walsh a shit-eating grin. A few of her classmates outright laugh, which makes Bonnie fume. She stares them down, one by one, until they've all lowered their eyes and buttoned their lips in submission.

"Come on, Bennett, it's not the worst thing in the world and you know it," Damon tells her after class. Bonnie's trying to hurry away from him, but he's never made things that easy.

"What was your motive, anyway?"

"What do you mean, motive?" Damon says with a smirk, narrowing his jewel-blue cat eyes. He obviously knows exactly what Bonnie's talking about.

"Why be so…so cooperative during practice yesterday?"

"Cooperative?" Damon feigns surprise. "Isn't it a cooperative sport we play?"

"Shut up, you know what I mean."

"I really don't, Bonnie. I play basketball on a team with teammates so sometimes I pass the ball to my teammates."

"Don't try to make me sound crazy."

"One wouldn't have to try." Bonnies huffs in frustration. "I don't understand why you always think I'm up to something, Bennett," he makes himself sound like he's emotionally hurt and holds his hand over his heart. "Maybe I've just decided to turn it all around and be the wonderful person my mother always told me I could be. Did that possibility ever occur to you?"

"One problem with that. It's not a possibility."

"Know what, maybe you're right. Maybe I'm just messing with all your heads the way I said I would. You'll never know until it's time for my endgame." He throws his head back in a fake villain laugh.

"Asshole."

"I know." He just beams at her.

Bonnie looks at the amount of work the midterm will require. It makes her want to tear out her hair.

"Oh no."

"What's the problem? Eyelash come unglued?"  
"These are all mine, I'd have you to know," she replies, batting her eyes at him playfully. She drops her voice an octave. "Aren't they beautiful? Couldn't you just get lost in them?"

She thinks she sees him blush, just a faint hint of pink around his cheeks. "S-so, what is it?" Bonnie curls her lip at him playfully. He can be so such an idiot sometimes, but somehow kind of… _cute_. When she thinks about their options, though, she groans.

"We're gonna need more time than just Wednesday after school."

"Simple solution, Bennett. We meet up more than just on Wednesday."

"Not simple. Even though I've become better at tolerating you, there's no way I'm going to be seen with you."

Damon rolls his eyes. "Like it'd kill you to be seen after school with me one more day."

"I'm not doing it."

"Okay then, pick a coffee shop."

"No."

"Well, my house won't work so you can't come over there, as much as you want that."

"Actually, I'm thanking my patron saint that I don't have to. But that only leaves us one option," she takes a deep breathed and heaves it out, "and that would be my house."

Damon looks intrigued by this possibility.

"Imagine that, me getting to see the dragon's lair!" Bonnie punched him in the chest, hard.

"Ow!" Damon rubs the spot with his fingers as he laughs. "Why must you be so violent, Bennett? I'm just excited over the prospect of seeing your cave for the first time. Have you been grinding bones to make your bread?" Bonnie tries to just ignore him, but she laughs out loud instead. Sometimes he can actually be really funny, she just never really noticed it before now. "You mean to tell me that boy-wonder boyfriend of yours won't flip out about me being at your house?" He says with mirth.

Bonnie goes still as she thinks about it. Kai would totally lose it, no matter how innocent her reason was for having Damon at her house. "Well, he doesn't exactly know you're coming, and I'd like to keep that way."

"Keeping secrets from Kai? I'm surprised you would be so slippery. I like it."

"Gross. Never use the word slippery when you talk about me again."

"Why, does it make you feel all hot and bothered?"

Bonnie can't help a small smile. "I'm leaving now. I have shit I need to do. One of those things includes stunting on you in this parade tomorrow." She holds the papers out against his chest, willing him to take them. The volume of his voice lowers, becomes softer. He suddenly clasps her wrists, firm but still gentle.

"Why, Bennett, you're not even bothering to deny the chemistry between us anymore."

The trouble is, Bonnie can't tell if he's joking. Her cage is rattled.

She presses the papers against him until her knuckles dig in and Damon lets out another "Ow!" and lets her go.

"Bye, Damon."

Bonnie pops out of bed the next morning refreshed and feeling high on life, with energy to burn. The first thing she does is run over what her schedule will look like for the day; for once she's going to skip worrying about classwork and just focus on looking fly. Typically she handled both effortlessly, but not today. As a matter of fact, she's leaving early to get her hair done extra fresh. Next she'll get her makeup professionally done; her dad is paying for it, because he's just so excited to have his little girl as homecoming queen. The makeup won't take long but the hair will take hours, and after that she needs to freshen up and get into the dress, then Kai is coming so her dad can see them together and take pictures, then they're going back to Kai's so HIS parents can take pictures then they have to get to the school for more pictures and the parade and the game…

This is her day. She's worked hard for it and had suffered more than her fair share in the meantime, so she's damn sure going to shine bright like a diamond.

Everything goes off just the way she planned. Her hair and makeup are perfect. The dress fits like a glove and accentuates her eyes and her hourglass figure. Kai's mouth had dropped open when he first saw her.

"Oh my God."

"You're damn right." She looks deep into her man's eyes as she pulls him close to her by his emerald green tie, the fingers of her other hand resting on the nape of his neck beneath his perfectly styled hair. She pulls him towards her and his eyes focus on her lips, looking to plant his own on them. Bonnie stops just short of kissing him, pushing him back with delicately manicured seafoam green fingertips as she adjusted his tie. "Never forget who you belong to." She's not about to mess this lipstick up for anybody, not even him. Kai bites his lip and chuckles knowingly.

Rudy goes crazy when he sees, "my baby girl all dressed up, looking like a lady. You're not a little girl any more." He gets weepy-eyed and Bonnie rushes to hug him, trying not to get emotional herself and hoping he'll lay off the embarrassing childhood stories. It isn't like Kai doesn't know them, but she never can tell when her dad will remember one he'd never told before.

After a mini photoshoot with him, it's off to Kai's house. The huge Parker family streams out of the garage and oohs and ahhs over how amazing Bonnie looks, especially standing next to Kai, who looked as dapper as ever in black slacks a white button-down and an emerald dinner jacket and that tie that matched the color of her gown perfectly, his hair parted and combed to one side.

"You look perfect," Liv tells her as she draws her in for a hug, "even next to this psycho." Bonnie laughs and kisses her cheek. She hugs Kai's parents (who she loves but she knows they're the reason he's crazy in the first place) and then they have a second photo shoot, with no less than a half-dozen members of the Parker family snapping photos like mad.

"You ready babe?" They're back at school and ready to for the parade.

"I was born ready." Kai holds out his hand to her. She lays her delicate fingers in it and lets him help her into the back 70's convertible that will showcase them in the parade. She looks stunning in her emerald gown and tiara, buried in a huge rose and baby's breath bouquet with her "Homecoming Queen" sash glittering. Kai is at her side, handsome enough to kill. They're both wearing their crowns.

As the parade get started, Bonnie sees all the people looking at her, and she proudly begins to wave. From her wrist a beautiful white gold bracelet studded with diamonds shimmers in the autumn sun. Kai had surprised her with it on the drive over. "It's a special occasion. You want to look and feel your best," He'd said to her, as cool as ever while Bonnie freaked out over how beautiful it was.

She had gladly excepted the token of affection from him, reminding herself that these were the sorts of things that made her glad to be with him. He took good care of her, no matter what. The day she had seen him with Katie has been pushed so far down into the recesses of her memory, it was almost as if it had never happened. Almost. Sometimes when he smiles at her, it stings a bit to think that he might not love her the way she always thought he had, and not as much as loves him. But the thought hurts so bad that she won't even allow it to surface. Life will go on like it was nothing, only a figment of her imagination.

She rides in the float feeling like she's getting all of the praise that she's due. She can feel it powering her up. She puts on her best Miss America wave and smiles her brightest smile. Mystic Falls North beats Jackson high 27 to three in the football game. Things are just as they should be. She and Kai show up fashionably late to the dance, and when they walk in The DJ shouts them out and shines the spotlight on them at just the right angle, illuminating their devastating attractiveness.

"Mystic Falls North High School, please join me in welcoming your 2015 Homecoming Queen and King, Miss Bonnie Bennett and Mr. Malachai Parker!" The crowd around them goes wild.

Holding tightly to each other's hands, they wave and bask in the cheer of the crowd. Bonnie playfully adjusts Kai's crown and brushes his shoulders off, and he bows deeply in front of her, one arm behind his back and the other folded across his torso. Bonnie holds her hands up as if to say, "Are y'all seeing all this?" The crowd cheers again.

The music cranks back up and it's time for them to work up a sweat! Part of the reason Bonnie chose a short dress was because it was fashionable and she was obviously a trendsetter, but also because it made it easy for her to get her twerk on. The bass boomed, making their chests rattle. Bonnie wound her cute round booty against Kai's crotch, grinding against him, waiting to feel that tell-tale bulge in his pants that let her know she was working it right.

"Hey, hey, break that up. No contact allowed." Teachers come over periodically to tell them to stop dancing so sexy, but as soon as they leave left they go right back to it. They are eighteen now, after all.

Katie Pierce and Damon Salvatore show up together. They get shown nowhere near as much love as the king and queen. Bonnie can't help but sneer as the followers who had originally switched teams for the "new royalty" came crawling back to her and Kai, kissing even more ass than usual. Bonnie was a merciful queen, allowing them to worship at her altar again with very little snark.

She and Damon lock eyes for a moment, and he gives her the same cocky, taunting grin he always has. Back to normal, thank God. She curls her lip at him, disgustedly, the way she always does.

Hours later Bonnie is dancing, snacking, drinking punch with a secret stash of vodka sneaked into it, and getting her ass kissed left and right. She is still having a fabulous time.

Until.

Katie saunters up to Kai, acting as if Bonnie's invisible, like she isn't even standing there. Katie pokes out her chest and leans forward, closing the gap between herself and Kai. The look on Kai's face says he isn't about to stop her. "I just wanted to congratulate you on your win, Your Highness. The best man won."

Bonnie is blow away. _The audacity of this bitch!_ she thinks in outrage. She steps in front of him, arms crossed, head tilted. Her stance and her face say clearly, '"Don't you know I'll beat your ass over my man?"

Katie barely gives Bonnie a look. "Well, I'll see you around,."

She flounces off, that sickening grin plastered all over her face. Bonnie pivots and turns her angry stare towards Kai.

"She just came to talk, Babe, relax. Katie's not all bad." _Infuriating._ Bonnie wants to slap him _and_ her.

"I'll show her all bad." Bonnie hisses, and stalks after Katie before Kai can stop her.

Katie is in the mirror, reapplying her lipstick. Bonnie lets the door swing shut behind her. She locks it with a loud click, in case some shit has to go down.

"If you don't stay away from my man we're gonna have some problems," she announces, her voice like a megaphone. She prepares herself for whatever comes next. Her fists are balled up tight.

Katie doesn't even turn from the mirror.

"From what I hear you already have some problems."

"What goes on in my relationship is none of your damn business."

"And how long, exactly, will it be your relationship?" Katie says in a mocking voice. "You had better hold on to him tight, Sweetheart, because what you won't do for him a real woman will."

Bonnie's shock quickly turns to rage. How does she even know about that?! She advances on Katie quickly, words her propelling her and filling her with red hot anger.

"Excuse me? And who's this real woman, you? I'll show you a real woman when I break your jaw. Why don't you go give it up to Damon Salvatore? He's the runner up you came here with. Stay away from Kai Parker, do you understand?" Bonnie brought her face to within an inch of Kate's. "I said, _do you_ _understand_?!"

Katie begins to laugh. It's a carefree, condescending laugh. "Ooooh Bon-Bon, you are naive. It's cute." Her laughter was infuriating. "Ask him about the study sessions."

Bonnie's stomach drops. "Study sessions?"

"Oh, he hasn't told you?" She says in a mock-concerned voice. "Whoops. You thought you were the only one having those," she holds her flat palm up to her mouth as if scandalized, "I let the cat out of the bag."

Bonnie's mouth dropped open for a second before she catches herself and clamps it shut. So many feelings are running through her, but mainly hurt and rage. She wants desperately to cry, but now is not the time. Someone has to pay for this.

"Now I know what you're thinking," Katie starts up again, "You want to run up to Kai and start screaming at him, and ask him what he's done with me and tell him to stay away from me. You could fight me, sure. But I wouldn't do that if I were you." Katie holds up her index finger and waves it from side to side. "Think of how dumb and desperate you'll seem. Playing the jealous girlfriend is never a good look. And it'll only push you farther away from him. Honestly, there's not much else you can do. This is happening. This is real life." Bonnie feels so stupid and help was all she could do is stare at Katie and try to keep her mouth from hanging like a fly trap.

"Besides, don't you think he'd get a little angry with you accusing him of being unfaithful what with all the time you've been spending with Damon Salvatore lately?"

"We both know there's nothing going-"

"-but do we really know that for sure? I don't know if you'd be able to convince Kai of that, the way you've both been sneaking around to hang out at your house. Wouldn't it be horrible if I accidentally mentioned it to Kai? After all, I thought he already knew, because his perfect little Bonnie never keeps any secrets from him." Bonnie tries to think of a reason why Kate's little plan won't work, or a witty comeback, or _something_. Nothing comes out.

"Stop pretending, Bonnie. It's only a matter of time." She shrugs and flips her perfect hair over her shoulder carelessly a small sickening smile on her face.

"What about Damon?" Bonnie asks dumbly.

"I'm thinking I'll keep them both until I decide which one I'd rather have. Women like me can do that, Bonnie. I know how to use what I have to get what I want. You've always been the girl next door, quiet and shy and a tomboy. You've been pretending for a long time now. I've never been pretend."

"Run along, now." With that, she goes back to fixing her makeup as if Bonnie isn't even standing there.

Bonnie expected anything but this. Anything but Katie making her feel stupid, anything but a checkmate in the game of chess Katie had been playing. The whole time Bonnie had been playing checkers.

She feels sick to her stomach. Her emotions hammer her, and thinks of how satisfying it would be to grab the back of Katie's skull and break the mirror with her face. The truth of it, though, is that if she went there she'd lose on all fronts, just as Katie said.

Bonnie gets out of the bathroom fast, reminding herself not to run for the sake of her image. She finds her boyfriend, grabs his arm and begins to drag him away.

"Let's go."

"Bonnie, wha-? Why so early? We're having a good time!"

"It's time to go, Kai. The after party starts now."

"All right," he says with a shrug. He turns and raises his arms; "After party at my house!" He yells out. Everyone around him cheers. On the drive back everyone keeps asking her what's wrong. She doesn't reply, she only drinks straight from the bottle of gin Kai has in his back seat. Only the coolest kids are invited back for the homecoming royalty's after party; Katie is not included in that group, neither is Damon. Bonnie's safe from the both of them for at least the rest of the night.

Kai keeps partying with his friends, drunkenly breaking things and terrorizing his sleeping siblings in their rooms. Bonnie, in the meantime, feels better in a place where Katie can't follow. But the words still echo around her. Bonnie drinks until she can't stand up and passes out on Kai's bed, trying to drown the thought of Katie coming after her boyfriend, and by extension, her entire future.


	9. The Year of Realizing Things

"This is my house. You are not welcome here, so don't forget that. You may not have anything to drink and you may not use the facilities. Don't touch anything. Don't look at any pictures. Don't breathe loudly."

"What _can_ I do?"

"Sit down in this chair and don't move. Do your share of this homework."

"I can't even compliment your lovely home?"

Bonnie rolls her eyes. "If you insist."

Damon whistles. "Nice place you got here." He leans close to her ear and whispers, "where's you room?" bONNIE shudders as an unexpected frisson shoots through her.

He shrugs and takes a seat at the tiny round table, his smile cocky. Bonnie isn't sure whether or not he noticed how she shivered.

"Just joking, Bon Bon." Maybe he is, but her body didn't take it as a joke. Bonnie shakes it off. The last thing she needs is Damon making her life even more complicated than it already is.

They get a lot done, laughing the entire time. They talk about their assignment, but they also talk about who's going all the way in the NBA finals this year. They both agree that the Minnesota Lynx would take the WNBA title again, as it was their year to do it. Damon tells funny stories about giving his "too-serious" little brother Stefan a hard time, but Bonnie can see that he'd do anything for his brother. It's charming.

"Am I still forbidden from having something to drink? Would you let me die of thirst right here in front of your very eyes?"

"I suppose I can spare you some water. Tap, because you don't deserve filtered." She thinks about how well things are going today, how pleasant it's been to have him there with her. It makes her go easier on him.

"Actually, I have apple juice, Coke, Sprite, or even filtered water."

Damon slaps a hand over his chest in shock. "You hear that Elizabeth? I'm coming to join you, Honey!"

She can't believe it. "Do not tell me you know about Fred Sanford!" Bonnie used to watch the show about the old junkman and his son with her dad as a kid.

"Know about him? The man is my idol!" Damon gets up and does Fred Sanford's staggering walk around her kitchen, calling for Lamont and looking for his glasses, and she falls against the doorframe because she's laughing too hard to stand.

They both freeze in place when they see Rudy standing in the doorway behind her. "You do a mean Sanford impression."

"Oh, um, Damon, this is my Dad. Dad, this is Damon Salvatore, my classmate. We're working on a project together."

Damon stands up straight, like a drill sergeant has given him a direct order, and shakes Rudy's hand, firm and sincere.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Bennett. You have a lovely home."

"You as well, young man. Welcome." Bonnie can tell from the bright look on his face that Damon has pleasantly surprised him. She's pleasantly surprised, herself.

"I think we got a lot done today so I'm just gonna head out." Damon jerks his thumb over his shoulder and packs his backpack. "It really was nice to meet you, Mr. Bennett. See you tomorrow, Bon. Don't take any wooden nickels." Rudy laughs and Bonnie pretends to be annoyed.

"What does that even _mean_? It must be old if my dad understands it but I don't." Damon winks at her before closing the door behind him. Rudy nods, turning the corners of his mouth down in thoughtfulness.

"He's a nice young guy. Handsome, too."

"Dad."

"Well, he is!"

"I love Kai!"

"I know you do, Babe, but you're young. You may not be together forever."

Bonnie isn't sure how to take that, especially with the way thing have been going lately. "Why would you say that?"

"You know I love Kai like my kid, but he's too arrogant for his own good. He wasn't like that when you kids were younger. People change, you know. They mature. Or in some cases, they go backwards." Rudy gives her a pointed look. Bonnies rolls her eyes. Parents always thought they knew best, but they didn't know anything.

After the respect he showed her dad, it's impossible to even pretend to hate Damon Salvatore. As a matter of fact, Bonnie now thinks of him solidly as a friend. She doesn't tell Kai this, because their relationship has officially become rocky. Her best friends are starting to notice that Katie's been seen around Kai more and more. She's not sure if they suspect anything, but if they're starting to notice, everyone else will notice soon, too.

Bonnie takes it out on her teammates. The irony is, it makes the team better. Coach Bonasera tries to temper her, but only sometimes. Truth be told, as a forty-year-old married mother of two, she's a little afraid of the eighteen-year-old high school senior.

One of the juniors, new to the varsity team, misses a lay-up during drills. Bonnie chest-passes a basketball at her, and the girl can barely get her hands up in time to save her ample chest from the pain of the speeding ball. She grunts and turns red in the face.

"You think you can make it on my team missing easy lay-ups like that? You think I'd let you play in one of my games and destroy my precious record? Get out of my line and give me ten laps, right now!" Coach Bonasera winces, but doesn't say anything. The girl, who looks on the verge of tears, jumps out of the drill line and begins a slow jog around the entirety of the gym.

Bonnie bellows, "Lazy on your lay-ups and lazy on your laps? If I have to come over there and set your pace I swear…" The girl picks it up, wiping her red, leaky eyes on the corner of her jersey.

"Jesus Bon, take it easy on the girl. She's only human," Caroline scolds.

"She's barely that." Bonnie growls, not taking her eye off the girl, ready to pounce if she slows down even by a step.

"Don't take your frustrations out on that poor girl. You're turning into a slave driver." Elena, always the voice of reason.

"Am not." Bonnie still doesn't look away from the girl.

"Lemme guess. It's my idiot brother." Liz rolls her eyes.

"This has nothing to do with him. You guys know I run a tight ship." She's lying and they all know it.

"You run a tight ship but not the Amistad. You're not cruel."

"You guys are exaggerating."

"How is it exaggerating when even Coach is afraid to step in?"

Bonnie looks over and sees their coach pretending not to see what's going on right in front of her eyes. Maybe she is going overboard, just a little.

"This is not about Kai."

"Then is it about Damon?" Caroline whispers conspiratorially.

Bonnie whips her head around. "What?"

"Oh come on, Bon, things have changed between the two of you. It's obvious."

"It's obvious?" She asks, bewildered.

"She's not even denying it anymore!" Caroline points at her and Bonnie's three friends burst into laughter.

"What are you laughing at, Liz? I'm in a relationship with your brother!"

"Who I've told you isn't good enough for you."

"You guys are so aggravating. Hey, why aren't you doing lay-ups?"

"Why do lay-ups when we can be over here making your life difficult?" Elena says.

"You guys are officially on punishment. You should be running laps with whats-her-name over there." Bonnie's joking and they know it. She cracks a smile, grateful to have friends to help break her out of her funk.

"We're going, but this discussion isn't over yet." Caroline jumps back in the lay-up line and Elena follows. Liz smacks a kiss on Bonnie's cheek before following them too.

"That's gross, little sister!" Bonnie yells, but really she feels loved.

She thinks about it; what if there's something to what they're saying about her feelings for Damon? He's funny, when you get past the fact that he's a major-league asshole. He's not bad to look at, when he's not doing that "I think I'm God's gift to women" squinty thing he does. She looks around the gym and sees him sitting high in the bleachers. He's looking right at her. He doesn't cut his eyes away, like a normal person would when they get caught staring. Instead he winks at her. Bonnie goes bright red. She decides right then to shoot some lay-ups herself. She could use some work on her finger roll.

The whistle blows before she knows it. Practice is over, and now the boys are going to take over. Bonnie and her crew have been watching them practice most days. Things are more interesting than they've ever been with the boys team, because Damon's presence has been shaking things up. Now that he's on the team, it's been a battle between him, as the up-and-coming rival, and Kai, as the team's long-time star.

"Let's see what your new boyfriend does this time," Liz says with a tilt of her eyebrow. The men's team starts like most teams do, running laps. Kai usually runs at head of the pack, both to lead his team and to be a show off. His teammates mostly can't keep up, but even those that do won't. Except for Damon Salvatore, that is. Damon starts off towards the rear of the group, but gradually makes his way forward, passing everyone in a slow, deliberate way, as if making a point that he's coming for the top spot. Everyone looks at him, some confused, some angry, but everyone gets the message. When he gets to Kai, he purposely jogs on Kai's left, his inside flank, like a track star about to take the lead in a long-distance race. Bonnie looks up and realizes the entire gym has gone silent, all eyes on the two rivals, waiting to see what's about to happen. Even the men's coaches are watching with eyebrows aloft, wondering how everything's going to play out.

Damon jogs there long enough for Kai to take notice of his presence, get mad, and speed up. They gradually pick up more speed, Kai trying to leave Damon in his dust, and Damon sticking to him like a shadow, just over his shoulder. Faster and faster they go, lapping the rest of the shocked team. They go faster and faster until they're doing an all-out sprint. Now it really has turned into a track meet. At their fastest, Damon is just a tiny bit faster. Like something out of a drama movie, he overtakes Kai, passing him and beginning to pull away. At this point, they've done more laps than are even required of them, especially right at the beginning of practice. There's muffled gasping as the entire gym watches Damon Salvatore beat Kai Parker in a foot race. Mercifully, it's only a few seconds more before the whistle blows.

Both men slump over, dripping sweat and heaving lungfuls of air, hands on their knees. The look Kai's giving Damon is pure murder.

Their head coach bellows, "Good job using up all your energy trying to outdo each other, tough guys. You better find some more, because since you're both so good at laps, you owe me ten more. Let's not make it a dick-measuring contest this time."

"Your new boyfriend has some balls," Caroline whispers. Bonnie can't even lie to herself; she's impressed. A part of her still feels resentment towards Damon, and a need to hate him as an act of loyalty to Kai, but honestly Damon just showed Kai up. It was a dick move, but he'd proved his point something serious. He was coming for Kai's spot, and if this is any indication, he just might get it.

"Kai's gonna be so pissed," she mumbles to herself, mentally preparing to be the supportive girlfriend he's going to need later tonight when it's time for him to lick his wounds. She's already thinking of things to say to reassure him that he's still the king of the jungle around here. The problem is, she isn't so sure.

Bonnie rolls her eyes when Kai knocks all his books of his desk, making them fly all over his room, knocking against the wall, pages flapping and twisting like the wings on an injured bird. _He's forever throwing shit_ , she thinks as she sits perched on the edge of his huge bed. He's in full rant mode, calling Damon every bitch and bastard in the book, yelling about how he wants to rearrange his face. Before Bonnie would have been much more tuned in to what Kai was saying, but honestly Damon's her friend now and Kai's rage-filled rants are getting old. Bonnie just agrees with everything he says, though, like she always has.

"Damon Salvatore trying to show me up? _Me_? Malachai James Parker? Has he lost his damn mind?" She doesn't disagree when he says "try", at least not out loud. Damon didn't try, he showed Kai up and in a big way. She's not gonna tell him that, though.

Her phones buzzes and she peeks down at it. It's Liz.

 **Is he in one of his moods?** She asks. The entire house, with the exception of Kai's maniac father, was on high alert when Kai was in a bad mood. He could be scary.

 **Don't worry, I'll calm him down,** Bonnie types quickly, tossing the phone to the side.

"Mal, come sit with me," she pouts, holding her arms out to him. He deflates like a popped balloon. He comes and tucks himself against her, like a big kid, his face in her neck as she strokes his back soothingly.

"There now, isn't that better?"

"You always know how to make me feel better, babe." She smiles and buries her face in his soft hair. Every time she holds him, she remembers why she fell in love with him.

"That's what I'm here for. I'm sorry that asshole came for you like that and you're so stressed out. Don't worry. You'll show him who runs it around here."

He pulls back to look at her, their faces only inches away. He brushes his nose against hers, his voice soft when he says, "Wanna help me relieve some stress?" He gives her that suggestive smile that always makes her weak in the knees.

Moments later they're making out on his bed and things are getting heated. He's on top of her with his long fingers gripping her thighs, and while she's enjoying the feel of him, the weight of him, his hands all over her, his soft lips, there's a quiet nagging in the back of her head that says she can't allow this to go much further. So when Kai pops the top button on her jeans, she puts her hand over his to stop him.

"Bon, I thought you wanted to help me relieve stress." They way he whispers it, his voice low agains the shell of her ear, he almost convinces her to go through with it but the bottom line is, she's not ready. She sits up and gets all buttons and zippers redone.

"We can go to the park and shoot a little. That'll help you blow off some steam."

"That's not what I had in mind." He kisses her neck, right below her chin, and it makes her eyes flutter. She stays strong.

"I know, but it's all you're getting." Kai throws himself back on the mattress with a huff, like a kid throwing a tantrum.

" Are you serious?"

"As a heart attack. We've discussed this a million times." Her frustration is rising. She's tired of having to tell him over and over again that she wants to wait. She loves him, and without a doubt he turns her on, but sex is a big deal and there will be no turning back if she starts now.

"I wouldn't have to deal with this bullshit with Katie," he mumbles.

"What did you say?" Her voice is dangerously low and her eyes blazing. If there was one thing he could have done to make her pitch a fit, this is it. After everything that's been going on, he talks about that _bitch_?

"Nothing, Candy, I didn't say anything."

"It sounds like you brought up Katie's name in the middle of an argument about sex." Bonnie's shouting, and she jumps to her feet, fighting mad.

"Do you want to be with that bitch? Is that what you're saying?" She shrieks, ready to throw some of his text books herself.

"No, I would never want that, ever-"

"If you think Katie Pierce is in any way, shape or form better than me, then maybe you need to be with her, because I won't put up with this bullshit from you." It's a complete lie, but it sounds good coming out of her mouth. It feels good to scream it at him, even if she knows she wouldn't stick to her words.

"Bon, I didn't mean anything by it, alright? Just calm down."

"You're damn right you didn't mean anything by it, and this is the last I better hear of it. I'm gonna leave you here to play nursemaid to yourself. You asshole." She gathers up her things and throws her coat on, leaving him there with his mouth twisted up in frustration and sheepishness.

When she gets home, she barely stops long enough to kiss her dad on the cheek.

"What's wrong, Sweetheart?" He asks as she sweeps past him.

"Just tired." Totally drained is more like it.

"Alright, sleep well."

She closes her door and lays out horizontally across the bed. She hasn't been this exhausted in a long time, maybe ever. Her life is getting to be too much for one woman to handle. She has no idea what she's going to do, but she knows she doesn't have the energy to think about it tonight. She strips down to her underwear and climbs under the covers, not bothering to take her makeup off nor wrap her hair, which _never_ happens. She falls asleep within sixty seconds, forgetting to even turn off her lamp.

Bonnie wakes up groggy, her eyes and face crusty from neglecting her skin care routine last night. She's slipping. Bonnie Bennett _never_ slips. She needs some best friend therapy in the worst way. Two nights later she has Elena and Caroline over for manis, pedis, facials, and girl talk. They paint each other nails as they carefully pop fancy chocolates into their mouths and drink San Pelligrino sparkling beverages, since they're not yet old enough for the fancy champagne they see in the movies.

"Have you seen the way Miss Elena over her has been drooling whenever Stefan Salvatore enters a room?" Bonnie jerks her thumb at her friend. Elena nearly spits out her drink. She covers her mouth with her hand and tries not to sputter as she turns bright red.

"Busted!" Carloine laughs.

"I am not busted, because there's nothing to be busted for, I don't, I'm not…" Elena stutters. She points an accusatory finger at Bonnie. "You did that on purpose! You waited until I had something in my mouth!"

"Guilty as charged."

"Go directly to jail for that, Bon. Do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars…"

"Look at her. Not even bothering to deny it. She's hopeless." They all burst out laughing.

Caroline asks, "Since when have you been into younger men?"

"Since Mr. Mysterious started hanging around in his leather jacket and great hair being all Stron-Silent Type," Bonnie whisper-shouts.

"I can't believe you're saying good things about a Salvatore."

"Stefan's always seemed cool. He has much more sense than his idiot brother." She looked to Caroline before they could jump on the subject. "What about you, Care Bear?"

"I have a crush on exactly no one."

"I call BS."

"Can't have a crush if there's no one worth crushing on. All these guys are boring. No life, no excitement. I need somebody who can shake things up!" Caroline jumped up on the bed and tossed her hair around while she swerved her hips to the music. Bonnie and Elena whooped and cheered her performance. Out of breath, Caroline flopped back down on the bed, suddenly realizing her polish was still damp.

"I need someone to shake things up like the elder Salvatore is for Bonnie, while we're on the subject of Salvatore men." She says it casually while she examines her fingertips. She then looks up with an expectant expression on her face.

Elena is all in after the ribbing bonnie just gave her. "Yeah, let's switch from me to you. You're the real story here."

"Yeah, you and your telenovela drama, Bonnie Bennett."

"He's just my friend, you guys." Both Elena and Caroline's mouths drop open. "What?" She asks.

"You just called him your friend."

"And?"

"You just called Damon Salvatore, your most hated enemy since middle school and rival to everything your beloved Kai Parker has ever stood for, your _friend_." Bonnie feels her face heat up.

"Well, when you put it like _that_ …"

"I can't believe you guys are friends now," Elena's eyes are wide with disbelief.

"Pretty soon they're gonna be mattress friends." Caroline makes a lewd gesture with her fingers.

"Don't be gross, Care!" Elena shoves her playfully.

"I can never tell Kai about Damon. He's already losing his mind." Things are suddenly very serious.

"What's the deal with him and Kate Pierce?" Bonnie's silence tells them everything. They flip.

"Oh my God…" Caroline starts, throwing her hands up.

"He's not doing anything with her, but there have been times-"

"Times?"

"Times that I've caught them looking at each other. Flirting, even." She's too embarrassed to talk about the Homecoming episode, so she conveniently leaves it out. "Elena, I know Katie's your cousin and all but if she doesn't back off my man I'm gonna stomp a mudhole in her ass."

Elena shrugs. "Ugh, Stomp away. It'll do her some good."

"If you don't I will!" The look on Caroline's face shows how serious she is.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Elena says in her soft I'm-Elena-and-I'm-so-sweet-and-sympathetic voice, touching Bonnie's forearm.

It's enough to put a crack in Bonnie's tough veneer. "I've been so embarrassed, you guys. Look what they've done to me."

As if on cue, her phone lights up. It's Kai.

 **I'm sorry about today. I hope you can forgive me.**

She smiles and feels a little bit better. She would forgive him anything. Her phone lights up again, and when she looks this time, it feels like she's being stabbed.

 **But I really am tired of waiting, Bonnie.**

Bonnie closes her eyes and sighs. She suddenly feels so tired. So much more than a new eighteen-year-old adult should.

"What is it?

Bonnie's grateful that Liz isn't there when she brings up her next subject. "He's been pressuring me," she admits softly.

"That asshole." Elena must be outraged if she's swearing. Bonnie would laugh if she wasn't so miserable.

"Was that him? I should give him a piece of my mind!" It's a good thing Bonnie knows Caroline so well, because she's able to snatch her phone away just before Caroline pounces on it.

"It's okay, Care."

"Bonnie. It's not okay. Do you think that maybe it's time that you…" Elena trails off, letting Bonnie draw her conclusion. Bonnie's eyes bug out like she's seen a ghost. Elena wants her to call it quits, to throw in the towel on the only love she's ever known.

"No! I would never!"

Caroline huffs at her in frustration. "For fuck's sake, Bonnie! He's cheating on you with the girl you can't stand!"

"That's not true. I have no evidence to say that's true. Only Katie, and she'll say anything to get to me."

Caroline's slender arms cross over her chest. "What is your gut telling you, Bonnie?" Again, Bonnie is silent. She can hear a voice screaming in the back of her head, _Something isn't right. Kai is cheating on you. He's a bastard._

"My gut says that he's been faithful to me," she lies. The sympathetic look on Elena's face balances out Caroline's exasperated growl as she throws herself face down on the bed.

"Can you guys just, please, be my best friends and support me in this." Automatically they rush to fold her in a group hug, making her feel supported once more.

"We're sorry Bon. Whatever you want to do, whatever you feel is right for you, we want to be there for you."

"Even if it does mean we'll be saying 'I told you so' in a few weeks-ow!" Caroline yelps as Elena pinches her.

"I love you guys."

"We love you, too." Bonnie isn't sue what's going to happen, but she's not giving up. She's convinced she can work things out with Kai. No one just gives up when they have something special worth fighting for, right? Regardless, she wasn't going to deal with her problems right now. Her best friends were over, and they were pampering themselves, and that's what she would focus on. Tomorrow was another day.

"Now enough with this mopey crap. We have more being fabulous to do." Bonnie holds up a fancy glass full of San Pellegrino sparkling orange juice, her answer to a mimosa.

"Cheers to that." They clink their glasses together with a giggle and get back to being beautiful, talented young women with their whole lives ahead of them.


	10. Crossovers

Bonnie knew it would be a tough game long before it started; she'd helped Coach drill the team relentlessly. She wants this W, and she'll put the entire team on her back if she has to. Luckily, when the buzzer sounds at halftime in their game against Truman High, the Mystic Falls team they almost lost to on their way to last year's state tournament, Bonnie knows her team is on top of their shit. They're tied at 28 points.

Bonnie has scored eight points so far, with two assists and a rebound. Not bad, but she can do better. Her heart pumps incredibly fast, but steady. She's in her element. It's like her feet grew up out of the court's polished wood, like the basketball is an extension of her arm. She feels better than she has in months, free to play to her heart out, totally focused and in the zone. Except for one thing.

She barely hears Coach's inspirational speech praising her performance. She's scanning the crowd, looking for Kai's encouraging face. They always come to each others' big games, as long as they're not on the road playing their own. The boys don't play tonight. Bonnie had told him repeatedly how nervous and excited she was for this game. He knew how much it meant to her. There's no sign of him. She shrugs it off. He's probably grabbing a hot dog or something.

"Bennett." She snaps to attention. "I love your hustle out there. I love that you're always looking to pass, but I want you to mix it up. When you take it down the middle, I want to see you pump fake and pull up for the shot more. They won't be expecting it. Keep them honest." Bonnie nods once. Message received. She will execute her ass off. Less passing, more shooting. She can do that. She will do that.

The buzzer sounds to begin the second half. Before she knows it, she's lost in the intensity of the game. Once again, everything becomes dribble, dribble, dribble, call the play, run the play, set a pic, pass it, score.

The score stays close, wobbling back and forth in each team's favor.

Bonnie hits a three pointer from down in the corner. She flings her arms wide as she jogs back to the other end of the court, she can't help it, she just has to throw up the "three" sign on both hands, which to non-ball players just looks like "ok". All that extra practice has been paying off!

She does a quick scan of the crowd, trying to find her man. She doesn't she him, but she does see her dad, on his feet, yelling and clapping. Probably saying "that's my baby," in the way that embarrasses Bonnie but secretly makes her feel like a million dollars.

Caroline is putting in every shot Bonnie creates for her, and Elena is playing her best D. Bonnie is hustling her ass off, and every single one of her nerves are on fire, every part of her in tune with the game. Every time she sneaks a look up into the stands, though, she doesn't see Kai. It troubles her, but she has to keep her head in the game.

The third time she looks up, Truman's star forward picks her pocket and takes it down for an easy layup. Coach Bonasera calls a time-out. Bonnie knows she's about to get reamed out, and she knows she deserves it.

"What the hell are you doing, Bennett, daydreaming about your pretty boyfriend? Looking up in the clouds? Get your head in the game!"

She hangs her head in shame and guilt. Instead of leading her team to victory, that's exactly what she was doing.

The next play she makes up for it. She drives straight down the middle. She draws in the same forward who just stole from her, who hacks her arm as she's going up for the shot. The ref calls the foul. The ball rolls around the edge of the rim before dropping neatly in. Bonnie puts her free throw in for a three point play! They're back in the lead. She's on fire! North is up one. Thirty seconds left.

It's time to play careful defense, but in her haste Bonnie turns right around and fouls their best free throw shooter.

"Stupid, stupid, you know better, Bonnie!" She hisses at herself. That's exactly what the other team wants, to get their best shooter on the line, and fouling Bonnie out isn't a bad plan either; she's now up to four of her allowed five fouls. She looks up again, hoping to see Kai's face to tell her it's alright, there's still time to make this right. She looks for him in his usual spot, and doesn't see him. _What the fuck,_ she thinks.

She does, however, notice another familiar face. It's Damon. His elbows are on his knees, one hand balled into a fist and the fingers of the other hand wrapped around it. His hands are pressed to his mouth, covering it, as if he's feeling the pressure himself. He nods to her, those blue cat eyes of his telling her she's got this. She nods back. _I got this._

After the Truman high player predictably makes both her free throws, they're down by one again. There's not enough time for a time out. Elena gets in the lane and grabs a beautiful rebound. Bonnie knows Elena's got possession before she's cleared everybody out, so she takes off running, as fast as she can, thundering down to the other ends of the court.

 _Come on, Elena, you can do this._ Elena sees her and launches the ball as hard as she can with one hand. It's deadly accurate, and like a quarterback passing to her receiver, the basketball hits Bonnie's hands mid-stride. She only has to take two steps before she's in the air, shooting from the free throw line. The buzzer sounds and in the same moment the shot is nothing but net.

Bonnie's so shocked that she sits down right on her ass. 54-53, Mystic Falls North wins! Before she knows it the entire team tackles her, Caroline and Elena wrapping her in a huge hug, rolling around and screaming on the hardwood they all love so much. They haven't won a championship, this is just a regular season game, but if they can triumph over Truman High now they can beat them again on their way to state, along with anyone else who tries to stand in their way!

Bonnie racked up twenty points, five rebounds, and six assists. Her stats have never looked so awesome! This game is quite possibly one of the best of her life.

She looks around for Kai. She sees her dad and smiles up at him, for a second forgetting how cool she is and then remembering she's not little girl to be hanging off her daddy's arm; luckily her dad just rolls his eyes good-naturedly and she sees him mutter "teenagers". She blows him a kiss.

Outside in the hall she catches up to her dad. After checking to make sure no friends are around, she jumps up and down like a five-year-old.

"Daddy, Daddy, Daddy! Did you see me? Did you see how good I was today?!"

"Baby, you blew my mind today. You made me so proud. Did you hear me yelling? I was trying on purpose to embarrass you. I just couldn't hold it in."

"Thanks! I guess it's okay you embarrassed me, Dad. You're the best! But only today, okay?"

"Okay. Next time I'll zip my lips." He mimes zipping his lips together and throwing away the key. They both laugh.

"Where did Kai go?" Bonnie cranes her head to look for him. Her dad pauses for a moment. Enough to let her know that something's wrong.

"I don't know, sweetheart."

"Wasn't he with you?"

Rudy's voice is strangled when he answers.

"He wasn't sitting with me. I haven't seen him."

"You mean he didn't-"

 _He didn't come. He missed one of the best games of my career. Where could he be? How could he forget?_ Bonnie wasn't sure whether to punch the wall or burst into tears. Her father saw her lip tremble and rushed to comfort her.

"I'm sure it was something very important. I'm sure he wouldn't forget how important this game was to you." Rudy sounded like he didn't believe his own words. Bonnie didn't either. _Kai wasn't there for me tonight. I needed him._

Rudy's quick to wrap a comforting arm around her. His timing is perfect, because she thinks she's falling apart. "Hey Sweetheart, how about we go grab some pepperoni and pineapple pizza to celebrate, just you and me for old times' sake?"

She shook her head solemnly. For some reason, she felt like she should go get to work but maybe she just wanted to punish herself. "I think I'm gonna head down to the park. Do some shooting."

"You're not even going out with the team? Even if you don't want to be seen with your old dad, you need to celebrate, sweetheart, you played the game of your life." It sounds nice, but what she wants more than anything is to burn off some of the frustration of Kai missing in action. She's trying to stay positive, but her night is ruined. Just as Bonnie gets ready to open her mouth, she hears a voice behind her.

"How's it going, Mr. B?"

A familiar, annoying, lovable face shuffled over, one hand in his pocket, the other extended to Bonnie's father.

"Ay, it's the study buddy. Damon, right?"

"Yes sir."

"Good to see you, Son."

Bonnie's gloom automatically melts away when she see him. _At least Damon was there for me tonight_ , she thinks. The thought warms her.

"You played a great game, Bonnie." He sounds so sincere. His smile is nice. No teasing or joking, just honest and open. It feels good to see this side of him again.

"Don't pretend to be nice to me just because my dad is here," she jokes, but there's a softness to her teasing all the same.

"Are you kidding? I'm _always_ nice."

"Since you're always so nice, you can do me a favor," Rudy interjects. "Bonnie refuses to go out and celebrate. Do me a huge favor and drag her out for pizza." He slaps a twenty into Damon's palm.

Bonnie is both shocked and amused. Her dad is actively encouraging her to go hang out with Damon!

"Mr. B, I would be happy to. There's no way I'm gonna let this girl skip celebrating."

"That's what I like to hear. Just have her home by midnight."

"I'm eighteen years old, Dad. I'm an adult."

"Twelve-fifteen, then." He waves as he heads to his car, leaving the two of them standing there.

"I can't believe my dad is encouraging this!"

"Your dad knows a stand-up guy when he sees one." Bonnie rolls her eyes. "It's a nice night. Wanna walk?"

"Okay." She waves to Rudy. "See ya, Dad!"

"Have fun, you two. But not _too_ much fun!"

"Dad!" Bonnie hisses. He's embarrassing her. Damon just laughs.

"I wish I had a dad like yours. He's cool." There's a lot more to that statement, but Bonnie decides not to press unless Damon wants to talk about it.

They stroll along, enjoying the cool night air. Bonnie feels the tension, those strong stirrings of a major crush that refuses to stay in the background.

She asks her most burning question, if only to break up the charged energy surrounding them.

"What were you doing at a women's game?"

"I was betting against you. You cost me a lot of money with that win, Bennett." He bumps her shoulder with his and smiles.

"That's my goal in life, to send you to the poorhouse."

"I knew how big a game it was," he admits softly. "Wouldn't have missed it."

Bonnie feels so full of an unnamed emotion she gets a bit chocked up. "That sounds a lot like something a friend would do."

"I know. I'm warming up to the idea of letting you into my inner circle."

To Bonnie's great surprise, Damon's arm comes out and settles gently around her shoulder. She finds herself tucking into his body, enjoying his warmth, his scent, his muscular build. They stroll like that for only a few paces, but those steps are infused with strong feelings. Good feelings, confusing feelings, all left undiscussed. When Damon takes his arm away, Bonnie wants to stay curled next to him, letting him shelter her from the cold. She wishes they could stay there, in that moment, until the sun peeked up over the horizon.

"The good news is, now I can critique your game. There are some glaring inconsistencies, Bennett." She punches him in the arm.

"Ow! It's not my fault you've got work to do."

They each order two slices of their favorite pizza and a Damon gets a chocolate banana malt. Bonnie's pizza is pepperoni and pineapple, which she usually only eats in this restaurant with her dad, sort of like a tradition.

"Don't tell my dad, he'd kill me if he knew I was eating our special pizza with someone else."

"Don't worry, I'll never tell anyone I spend time with a person who likes pineapple on their pizza."

"Shut up." Just for that, she stole a spoonful of his malt.

"Hey! Hands off, Bennett."

"Nope!" She takes another spoonful and giggles when Damon doesn't even try to stop her, just watches with amusement, like he thinks it's cute.

 _I shouldn't be having this much fun,_ she thinks. Then, _fuck Kai. I'm gonna enjoy myself to the fullest._

"Tell your dad thanks, but this is on me. In the name of your big win and all." He gives her back the twenty and pulls out one of his own. If Bonnie wasn't feeling all warm and fuzzy before, she definitely is now.

"This kinda feels like a date." Bonnie jokes this as she sips his malt, which she has now pulled all the way over to her side of the table and put her own straw in.

"Does it now?" He says in his teasing voice, looking at her in the seductive way he does.

"Stop looking at me like that." She can feel her face heating up.

"Looking at you like what, like this?" He turns up the intensity and leans in closer to her, his eyes captivating hers. Then he sits back in his seat, shifting back to the mysterious jokester as if nothing had ever happened. "It can't be a date, though."

"For obvious reasons." Bonnie agrees. If she feels disappointed, she'll never tell another living soul.

"Unfortunate." There's a small smirk on Damon's face. Bonnie blinks at him, and he changes the subject so quickly she doesn't have time to register what he just said.

"Graduation's coming up. Only one semester left. What are you planning to do with this little life of yours?"

"I have it all planned out. Graduate with honors, use my basketball skills to get a scholarship, graduate with honors, get a job, get married." She doesn't mention Kai's name. It just seems weird to, sitting here face-to-face with Damon.

"And?"

"What do you mean, 'and?'"

Damon laughs softly. "There's more to life than basketball and Kai Parker, Bennett."

That makes Bonnie feel dumb, but she pretends it doesn't. "Obviously, Salvatore. You think that's all I have going on? Look at my extracurriculars."

"I'm sure they're stellar, brainiac. What I mean is, are you thinking about what you want to major in, what career you want? Do you want to study abroad? Learn another language? Stand up for a cause? Do you wanna change the world?

The questions stunned her. To be honest, she hadn't even thought about it. All she wanted was to play ball, and graduate with a degree in _some_ thing, and then get married to Kai and start a family. She plans to be a careerwoman, but she has no idea what that career might be. Leave the country? Learn another language? Fight for a cause?

Damon has her stumped and he can tell.

"There's a whole big world out there, Bonnie. I know Mystic Falls is glamorous and all, but don't get so caught up that you miss out."

"Oh yeah? Well since you're the expert why don't you educate me, Mr. know it all."

"Speaking of education, that's something I care a lot about."

"Really?" He has her rapt attention now.

"I think that's something all kids should have, but all kids don't. Access to education and teachers who care. I wanna do something about it. Be a teacher who really cares."

"You? A schoolteacher? Of small, impressionable little minds?"

"Don't look so surprised, Bennett." He looks shy about it, like he's afraid to admit it.

It turns out Damon wants to teach history. "We all think it's so boring, but it's only because they're not teaching it right. I wanna make it fun to learn about." He even wants to leave for a year, teach somewhere else, like China or Argentina. The thought blows Bonnie's mind. She can barely imagine leaving Virginia, let alone the entire country.

"I'll be making pennies, but I'll be happy. He shrugs one shoulder as he studies the ground.

"I don't know, Salvatore, I can envision you picking on small children when you're supposed to be teaching them. I can even see you spreading the misery around the globe."

She really can see that for him, and it humanizes him even more in her eyes. It's also kind of sexy. Kai doesn't ever talk about doing any good in the world. Once again, she will carry this secret thought to her grave. She listens to Damon talk about new and exciting things outside of Mystic Falls. She drinks his malt and he squawks about it but looks secretly happy she stole it.

He looks at his phone.

"Oh shit."

"What?"

"11:40. Gotta get you home."

"Are you serious?"

"You won't have me pissing your old man off. He likes me and I want to keep it that way."

They stroll back to their cars.

"You did good today, Bon. I'm proud of you." Maybe that shouldn't make Bonnie feel as good as it does, but it means the world to her. It means even more when Damon steps forward and gently, almost cautiously, puts his arms around her. The night has been full of surprises, and this is the biggest one. Bonnie puts her arms around Damon's shoulders and squeezes him back. It's their first real hug, and it's full of affection, friendship, and warmth. It's also, secretly, tinged with desire. She holds on longer than she should. They finally let go, and he's gone.

The entire night, all she can think about is Damon. He turns her on in a way she can't understand. Not just her body but her mind, too. He's so different from Kai. She cann't quite put her finger on it. _Kai is superficial, Damon has depth. That's the answer._ She could never talk about something like the importance of education and being a good teacher with Kai. Honestly, she has never wanted to until now. It's all very new for her and it's intriguing. Maybe she should learn more about this stuff. Beyond that, she knows, is a deeper connection that has no explanation, a chemistry that no scientist can explain.

She wishes it had been her boyfriend taking her out to celebrate, but Kai hadn't been there for her and Damon had. _Kai's changed_ , she thinks. She gets the feeling Damon would never change. When he's there for someone, it lasts forever.

Right now, Bonnie doesn't want to think about her problems with her boyfriend. Instead, she thinks about her stellar basketball game and her deep, handsome, muscle-bound friend and project partner. She can't help grinning and sighing. After all, he made her feel so important.

The next day is totally different. It's time to confront Kai and the more she thinks about how he disrespected and abandoned her, the angrier she gets. She can't find him and he's not answering her texts. _He must know how much trouble he's in._ It was a special night for her, and while she was supposed to feel on top of the world, she'd been heartbroken with the knowledge that her boyfriend, her future husband, wasn't there to support her when she really needed him. It's time to get down to the facts. Whatever his story is, it had better be damn good.

He's avoiding her but he won't miss practice, that much she knows. She has no idea what she plans to say to him, but she imagines it's going to be like somebody dropped napalm on the gym. She's more than just pissed, she's enraged.

She finds him easily, sitting against a wall, arms resting on his bent knees. When she approaches, she crosses her arms and looks down at him, appreciating the fact that for once she's towering over him.

"Malachai." Her tone is icy and hard. When Kai turns to see her he rolls his eyes. That only adds fuel to her fire, but she can tell he's going to tread with caution. This wouldn't be the first time she's embarrassed him in front of a crowd of people, and wouldn't be the last.

"Are you going to listen to what I have to say?"

She picks at a cerulean-manicured nail, shorter than she would have liked because it's basketball season. She pops her Juicy Fruit.

"I'm waiting."

"Something came up."

"Something. Came. Up." She echoes, punctuating every word as she tries to get them to make sense. She can't believe it. She's never been so mad before in her life. If he doesn't come up with something better, she's going to morph into a dragon and start breathing fucking fire. As soon as she gets ready to do just that, she realizes that he's staring at something, hard. She follows his gaze and sees the problem. There are new faces in the bleachers watching practice. A big group of about ten young men. Really tall young men. Bonnie peers at them, trying to place them. Then she realizes; they're not such new faces.

They're Mystic Falls West.

Bonnie gasps. _Fuck, Kai's about to shit bricks._

"I can't believe they had the balls to come in here," Kai's looking amused, which is not a good thing when he's angry. The rival teams never just waltz onto each others' territory unless they're about to play, so seeing them here is blasphemous. There could be a knock-down, drag-out.

Bonnie watches as Kai slowly stands, extending himself to his full height. He cracks his neck and gives his shoulders a shake, like he's ready to start swinging.

 _Shit._

The one sitting down in the front of the group, his feet propped up on the bleacher in front of him, elbows on his knees and fingers tented like every super villain who's ever walked the earth, is clearly the leader.

He's not very tall; saying he's six feet is being generous, but he has a strong presence. He is gorgeous. His fair skin, hair the color of beach sand, and blue eyes make him look like something out of a medieval romance novel. However, it's the look in those eyes, the cold, calculating mercilessness, so strong for someone maybe eighteen years old, that makes Bonnie think Game of Thrones might be more appropriate.

Kai puts his fingers in his mouth and whistles. "Hey boys. Looks like we got some guests in our house." Now they're all gathering. Some of the girls come too; Bonnie looks up and Liv and Elena are standing with her.

"Kai, what are you gonna do?" Bonnie asks in a low voice that says she can see he's ready to throw down.

Kai doesn't take his eyes off the enemy for a second. "I'm gonna get out in front of this thing."

The Mystic Falls North men and women's player move forward as a unit, like a lion pack ready to defend their stretch of the Serengeti plains.

Kai addresses the medieval cover model directly. "You're new around here, so maybe you don't know you're trespassing. Your boys know. Why didn't they tell you?"

"I know perfectly well what I'm doing," he replies, his voice smooth, confident and threatening. He has a British accent, which Bonnie has never heard outside of an episode of _Elementary._ "I'm sizing up my competition and there doesn't seem to be very much."

Kai chuckles and takes a step forward.

"Something must be wrong with your eyes. I can fix that for you."

"My eyesight is quite keen," he replies. "As a matter of fact, I can quite easily see the lovely young woman standing next to you. And who might this be?" He looks Bonnie slowly up and down. His voice is low and sickly sweet, face lit up like he's having an old friend for dinner, Hannibal Lecter style. He ogles Bonnie, and she does not like him or his accent or his smirk one bit.

She's a second away from slapping that look off his face, but Kai knows her too well and he puts his arm around her shoulders, stopping her in her tracks.

"Don't worry babe, I got this. He's not worth your manicure."

Klaus laughs out loud. "You send your women to do your dirty work for you?" He asks, and his accent is so sickening Bonnie wants to throw up on him.

"My woman can handle my lightweights."

 _Damn right_ , Bonnie thinks.

The two team captains seem to be enjoying the banter, enjoying how the tension is so thick you could cut it with a knife. It seems like both are waiting for the other to pull the trigger, to start a full-on brawl in the middle of the school. It seems like both would welcome it.

Kai smiles, and it's the one that comes before he snaps. Bonnie's afraid. It seems like an unstoppable force is about to hit an unmovable object. There could be war.

"This has been fun, but it's time for you to leave."

"I don't think I'm quite ready to go yet." Bonnie can tell Kai is ready to start swinging, until the gym door bursts open and in comes none other than Damon Salvatore.

Damon holds his arms out wide as if to embrace the intruder. "Klaus Mikaelson, my new friend. We've yet to make each others' acquaintances."

"Ah yes, the traitor. I've heard stories about you."

Damon steps in between the two teams, making it clear he's with North now and no longer with West. "Stories, eh? You boys talking about me behind my back?" Damon eyes his former team as if he's ready to mow them all down as well. They don't have much to say.

"It's time for you to go, Klaus." Kai says, his creepy "I'm ready for violence" smile on his face.

Jovially, Damon adds, "I'm gonna have to agree with the cap here. It's been fun being neighborly, but all the Mr. Rogers shit is over with now."

"Scurry back to your holes, West," Bonnie throws in, unable to keep her cool.

"Oh, captain. Quite the protection detail you have here. Like a pack of well-trained dogs."

At that everyone starts forward. No one would get away with calling any one of their crew a dog, especially not calling Bonnie a dog, and despite their differences the two most important men in her life would defend her.

The second before all heck can break loose, a whistle shrieks behind them, snapping them out of it. It's the men's coach, Coach Peterson. He's not a man to mess with. It takes him only moments to break into the mix and make everybody back down. It's a good thing he was there, because Bonnie isn't sure what would have happened.

"Out," he tells Mystic Falls West in his deep baritone voice, "And don't let me see you all back here causing trouble again or there will be suspensions. If you want to keep playing basketball here in the city of Mystic Falls, you had better straighten up your act. Out. Now."

A real adult and the threat of no basketball gets Mystic Falls West moving.

It's that exact moment that Caroline decides to show up, late to the party.

"What did I miss?" She freezes when she realizes how tense the situation is. Klaus stops in his tracks, so fast that his shoes squeak on the hardwood. He stares openly at Caroline with a gaze that's a mix of seduction, romance, and a predator stalking his prey. Caroline gives him her classic sideeye and crosses her arms over her chest.

"Can I help you?" She asks, with as much attitude as she can muster.

"Indeed you can," Klaus says, as if he didn't hear the venom dripping from her voice. He stalks forward until he's in her space. Caroline doesn't back down an inch. Instead, she stands up straighter and silently challenges him. It seems to excite Klaus even more, and there's a tension between them that isn't _only_ hate.

"Love, I hope you're not with this…peanut gallery. You're far too exquisite a creature."

"Drop dead, Pepe Le Pew. I'm not buying anything you're selling."

Klaus throws back his head and laughs. "I'm not French, love, I'm British."

"You're an asshole."

"I won't argue with that evaluation."

"I won't entertain this conversation."

"And it has certainly been entertaining." Caroline looks disgusted, but Klaus looks like he's having the time of his life.

"You lot can burn," he says, turning to point an accusatory finger at everyone else, "But it has been a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I hope we have the chance to argue again in the near future."

"Don't hold your breath. On second thought, _do_ hold you breath."

Klaus smiles that smile at her again. "Until we meet again, love." He brushes past her on his way out, gently grazes her shoulder. Bonnie thinks she sees Caroline shiver, but she could be imagining things. Caroline stands there stunned and confused until Mystic Falls West stalks out like the creeps they are. It's then that Bonnie remembers what was going on before they showed up.

"We'll finish this discussion later." Kai says, turning to start laps for practice.

"Gotdamn right we will." Bonnie snaps. She watches him jog off. Damon catches her eye and he looks at her like, _finish what?_ Bonnie looks away fast, embarrassed for him to see such a rift in her relationship. She turns back to her girls.

"Gross, he _likes_ you!" Elena exclaims to Caroline.

"Don't curse at me like that."

"Why do you alway pick up the weird ones, Care? The ones who are out for world domination and all that jazz?"

"They pick me, unfortunately."

"He _is_ infuriatingly hot," Bonnie stage whispers.

"Says the woman who already has about fifteen boyfriends," Care whispers back.

"I do _not_ have fifteen boyfriends." _I barely have one,_ she thinks to herself, surprised at how it feels to admit it.

The argument is epic. Kai's siblings are essentially in hiding, not wanting to be in the middle of this particular shitstorm.

"Aren't you going to at least apologize?"

"Every time I turn around I'm apologizing. I'm getting tired of apologizing."

"I'm getting tired of you doing stupid shit, and this is pretty damn high on on the list. If you stopped doing stupid shit, there would be no need for the apologies, but since you're still messing up, it's the least you could do to make it up to me."

"You act like you don't do anything wrong. Like you're perfectly innocent in all this, making no mistakes."

 _Here we go,_ she thought. She started to come back at him, but as usual he turned it back on her.

"Prancing around with Damon Salvatore." How does he even _know_ about that? She resists the urge to ask if he has his boys spying on her.

"Damon Salvatore was there for me, unlike you." She can't help but feel warm and cared for when she thinks about Damon, the exact opposite of what she's feeling here.

"Oh yeah? There for you in what way?"

"Don't you dare accuse me of being faithful to you."

He snorts. "Yeah, what the hell am I thinking? How could you be unfaithful? I'm not getting any, so why would anybody else be getting any?" He was stooping awfully low.

"You better watch how you fucking talk to me. Especially since I could accuse you of the same thing. I keep seeing you giggling with Katie Pierce. Maybe I should be the one making accusations." They were on truly dangerous ground now. Bonnie tries to hold back her temper, to keep from saying things she couldn't unsay, to keep from provoking Kai into saying things he couldn't unsay, more things he couldn't unsay. Still, there it was, aired out. Now they had to deal with it.

"Come on, Bonnie, you're worried about Katie Pierce?"

"I don't give two fucks about Katie Pierce, because she's beneath me. Why, _should_ I be worried?"

"If I was getting sex from you, my girlfriend, who I'm in a relationship with, you wouldn't have to be so paranoid about where I was getting it from."

"It sounds like you're saying this is all on me."

He shrugs and says, "I mean…"

"This is absolutely insane. I'm not gonna put up with this bullshit from you. I made my decision a long time ago, and I am not ready for sex. You said you were good with it then, and you need to be good with it now. We might as well just stop arguing about it, because I'm not changing my mind."

"Okay, we won't argue about it any more."

"Good." She thinks she's won, until his next words.

"So what are we even doing here?"

"What do you mean?" She sits up in her seat, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up. He can't be doing what she thinks he is.

"You and me. What are we doing?"

"I still don't understand what the fuck you're saying."

"Our relationship. Where is this going?"

"Are we questioning our relationship right now? Since when? Where is this even coming from? Since you've been messing up and I've been rightfully pissed about it and demanding apologies that I deserve, now you don't want to be with me?" Her voice is getting louder, and she can't control it, no matter how hard she tries.

"I didn't say that."

"It sounds like that's exactly what you said."

"Know what, you're right. I need some time to think." Bonnie's on her feet now.

"What does that mean, time to think?"

"I need some time Bonnie. We shouldn't talk for a couple days."

"Malachai James Parker, are you breaking up with me?!" She's shrieking, but there's nothing she can do about it. Her worst nightmare is coming true.

"Not breaking _up_ , but I mean…I need break, Bonnie. I need to figure out what we're doing and what we both want."

Bonnie goes completely ballistic, but no amount of screaming, crying and throwing things changes the fact that they're officially on a break. She puts a hole in his drywall, than he does too, then she breaks his favorite trophy, and then he tells her to get the fuck out and she does, but not before destroying a few more things on her way out.

At home she sits stone-faced, staring at her wall. She's never felt such a storm inside of her, but at the same time she's never been so frozen in place.

She whispers to herself, "I'm not ready to give up on him. I'm not ready to give up on everything we've built, and everything we're going to have. We're supposed to grow old together. I can't let him go." Even after all he's put her through, she just can't let him go.

She waits. Waits for him to soothe her with a call or text, waits for an expensive gift to show up at her door, waits for him to tell her he's sorry and he was out of his mind to ever say he wanted a break from them being _them_ , Kai and Bonnie, the perfect pair like it's always been. But there's nothing. Nothing at all.

After seventy-two agonizing hours, she caves. She makes a decision to save their relationship. She decides to give him what he really wants.


End file.
